


In hell

by rokeat



Category: Glee
Genre: Action, Blam, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Suffering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-06-08 16:08:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 53,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6862387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rokeat/pseuds/rokeat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What looks like a normal day with their friends, turns into hell for Blaine and Sam when they get caught up in a holdup. Will they be able to survive that man's madness? And how will that affect their relationship?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I needed a break from TWD (I think both the readers and I need it) and I thought it was a good time as any to start that drama/action fic I told you about some time ago. Looooots of drama and suffering blam, be warned! Hope you like it!

Blaine only had to open the door to his apartment that afternoon for a wide smile to break on his lips, even if he was dead tired from his long day of work at school. Music was coming from the bedroom; a set of keys was resting in the little table next to the door; a couple of trainers were lying untidily in the living room. All of them signs that his boyfriend had come back home after six days in Kentucky, visiting his family. The time for missing him had ended, Blaine though, as he left his own keys next to his boyfriend’s and closed the front door silently so Sam wouldn’t hear it.

Blaine crept about on tiptoe along the corridor to the room he had shared with Sam for over four years now, the happiest of his entire life, he reminded himself with the widest smile. The door was slightly ajar, and Blaine could see his boyfriend’s wide back as he was leaning over the bed, unpacking his suitcase while humming distractedly to some country music he had listened to a hundred times before. Blaine’s heart starting beating faster in anticipation, as every time he got Sam back after some time apart –which happened very rarely–. Blaine decided not to make his presence known yet so he could surprise his beloved boyfriend, and he opened the door and jumped on his boyfriend’s back for a piggyback in one swift movement.

“Surprise!” he yelled at Sam’s ear at the same time as he fell on him.

Sam, of course, had not been expecting such an intrusion on his task and the surprise of it all made him fall on the bed, face first, obviously bringing Blaine down with him, who fell on top of his boyfriend. Both of them started laughing like crazy at this, silently thankful to have a partner who was as ridiculous as themselves, and finally Blaine rolled off his boyfriend and ended lying on his back, next to him. Sam lifted his upper body and put an arm over Blaine to rest it at his far side, so his chest was practically on top of Blaine’s, their faces merely inches apart. They just looked at each other for a few seconds, both spellbound with the other’s beauty as if they had been apart for years instead of a few days, until Sam reached for a rebel curl falling on Blaine’s forehead with his fingers to play with it and smiled sweetly at him.

“Hey you” he told him, so lovingly that Blaine felt like he was going to melt.

“Hey yourself” Blaine answered just as adoringly.

The right corner of Sam’s mouth went slightly up in a fond smile as he took a few more seconds to just contemplate Blaine’s magnificent eyes, so beautiful and huge and full of love. Not for the first time, he got to wonder what he had done to deserve sharing his life with such an amazing creature, even if they had been together for close to six years already and he should be used to it, he suddenly realized.

Had it really been more than six years since Blaine had been kicked out of NYADA and he had come back, so depressed and desperate for guidance and undertanding, to Lima in search of his best friend? And Sam had been there for him alright when he needed him the most, knowing that it wasn’t just his breakup with Kurt what hurt him so much, but the feeling of been so lost, of not knowing what he wanted to do with his life. Sam understood him perfectly –hadn’t exactly the same happened to him only a year before?–, and had spent entire nights being Blaine’s shoulder to cry on, just listening to him and making sure he knew how perfect and special he still was. And as the weeks went on and Blaine started being more like himself, they started designing plans for Blaine to do with his life –and Sam was surprised, and at the same time he wasn’t, when Blaine decided he wasn’t going back to New York nor he wanted to have anything to do with show business anymore–, and while they were doing it, they got closer than ever and old and new feelings started appearing. And when Kurt appeared in Lima to try and win Blaine’s heart back and Blaine told him his heart already belonged to Sam without the slightest of doubts, Sam understood it was the time to finally make a move and he confessed how Blaine’s feelings were entirely reciprocated.

The beginning of their relationship had not been easy, with Blaine spending the week in Indianapolis while getting his teaching degree –as a decision had been made and he was going to become a primary teacher–, and Sam still living in Lima now that he had a job as an assistant to Couch Beiste in McKinley. But they had made a promise to spend every weekend together –with either Blaine going to Lima or Sam to Indianapolis–, and they hadn’t broken it even once. And as soon as Blaine finished his degree, after four amazing and horrible years at the same time, they searched for an apartment where they both could live and they officially moved together. An apartment in which they had lived for the last year and a half, during which Blaine had gotten his first job at a school and Sam was close to becoming the titular coach at McKinley now that Beiste was going to retire next year. And it had been the happiest time of Sam’s life for sure, he thought with a smile. Because being in love with his best friend was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

And even if Sam still asked his boyfriend every now and then if he was happy with their simple and easy life, and if he didn’t miss performing or New York’s excitement, he didn’t really need an answer. Because he had never seen Blaine as happy and content as he was with his perfect boyfriend, his perfect flat, his perfect job and his music performances in a local bar every other Sunday –with Sam always in the front row, of course–. And Sam knew they both finally had found what they had been aiming for their entire lives.

Still marveled at everything they had lived together and that had brought them where they were now, Sam lowered his head to capture Blaine’s lips in the first kiss they had shared in almost a week, making it long and full of all the feelings accumulated in their hearts for almost a week: longing, yearning, undying love... Blaine’s lips felt as soft and sweet as he remembered them, but his smile was even brighter than in his dreams.

“Did you miss me?” Sam asked him as he nuzzled his boyfriend’s neck, eliciting a soft laugh from him.

“Nah, not much” Blaine joked, and Sam lifted his head to look at him.

“Oh really? Then how stupid of me for spending so much time looking for the perfect gift for you”

“You brought me a gift?”

“No, I just said I spent a lot of time searching for it”

“Samuel Jessica Evans, it’s just plain cruel to get my hopes up for nothing” Blaine tried to look offended, but the fact that he was stretching his neck to kiss Sam’s clearly belied his words.

“Not more than telling your boyfriend you haven’t missed him when he’s been away for a whole week” Sam said as he put a hand to Blaine’s forehead to gently push his head on the mattress so he could be the one doing the neck-kissing.

“It’s only been six days” Blaine contradicted him playfully, as he took vengeance on him for his actions by lifting his T-shirt and lightly brushing his fingertips along the blond’s spine, teasingly.

“You’re such a nuisance” Sam told him as he moved his kisses to the top of Blaine’s chest, opening the first button of his shirt and consciously letting the breath out of his mouth to caress Blaine’s skin, making him sigh in anticipation. If he wanted some teasing, Sam would make sure he would get it.

“And how was your trip?” Blaine asked him, trying to sound casual under Sam’s ministrations, his own fingers just reaching below the waistband of his boyfriend’s trousers.

“Incredibly boring without you” Sam answered, bringing his kisses even lower on his lover’s chest until he reached the next button on his shirt, losing it too. “I wish you had been there with me”

“I wish so too, but you know I couldn’t ask for a week off, it’s too soon” Blaine answered, fighting hard not to moan under Sam’s skilled lips and the trail of pleasure they were leaving on his skin.

“And how was your week?” Sam asked, perfectly aware of what his kisses were doing to the smaller man beneath him.

“It’s been a horrible, horrible week” Blaine explained, bringing his hands to the front of Sam’s trousers to start unfastening the belt, tickling Sam’s waist all the way with his fingers, eliciting an involuntary groan from his throat.

Sam lifted his head a little from Blaine’s chest to look into his face, trying to decide if he should worry about what Blaine had just told him or he was only kidding, but all he could find was a bright and wide smile on his already passion-flushed face.

“Try saying that without that ridiculously big smile on your face and maybe I’ll believe you” Sam told him, resuming his way down Blaine’s chest ‘til the next button.

“I can’t help it, you’re here and suddenly everything is alright again” Blaine answered, stopping the teasing for a second to be honest.

Sam smiled at him, the butterflies in his stomach going crazy with emotion at Blaine’s raw and sweet honesty, and went all the way up again to reach Blaine’s face and join their lips together in a loving and sincere kiss.

“But that doesn’t change the fact my week was really horrible” Blaine returned to the joking, mumbling against Sam’s hot lips.

Sam chuckled at him.

“I thought it had only been six days”

“Really? It felt longer to me” Blaine said, capturing his lips again as he enveloped his neck with his arms to bring him closer to him, if that was even possible.

“Why don’t I make it up to you for not being here in such a terrible week not letting you out of this bed for the next twenty-four hours?” Sam suggested lasciviously, losing the remaining buttons on Blaine’s shirt and lifting his boyfriend’s upper body with a firm arm around his waist so he could take the shirt off of him once and for all.

“As much as I would love for you to kidnap me like that” Blaine said, as he took advantage of the proximity of Sam’s body to gently bite his ear, “I feel an obligation to remind you that we are spending the day at Sebastian and Puck’s tomorrow”

Sam groaned loudly, this time in annoyance, and let go of Blaine so he fell flat on the bed again, amused at Sam’s reaction.

“Do we have to go?” Sam asked him, pleadingly, making Blaine chuckle.

“Yes, we have to go, we’ve had this barbecue planned for weeks, we can’t just skip it” Blaine answered, kissing Sam’s neck to get him interested again –which was not very difficult.

“Can’t we? I really feel like I have to compensate you for making you miss me so much” Sam told him, as his hands travelled both sides of his boyfriend’s bare torso, arousing and tickling him in equal shares.

“Well, you can compensate me now, tomorrow before we go and after we come back, if you want” Blaine suggested, accompanying the kissing of Sam’s neck with quite a bit of biting.

“I don’t know if that will be enough” Sam answered, his hand travelling all around Blaine’s lower stomach, making his breathing speed up with desire.

“Besides, they’ve missed you too” Blaine explained, grabbing Sam’s t-shirt and rolling it up past his arms and head until he was freed from it, both of them shivering with pleasure as their naked chests collided at last.

“Really? You think?” Sam asked him, not really interested about anything that wasn’t unfastening Blaine’s belt.

“Well, I only miss you for obvious reasons that they don’t get to experience, if you know what I mean...” Blaine told him mischievously, before licking the crook of his lover’s neck. “So why _they_ miss you is beyond me”

“You little bastard” Sam told him with a voice full of lust, as he separated Blaine’s legs to fully set himself between them and on top of his boyfriend and devoured his mouth hungrily as he finally undid the buttons of his trousers.

**********

“Puck, will you finish wasting your time and yours already and lend me a hand with this?” Sebastian yelled at his friend and roommate from their terrace the next day, a bit annoyed at him for not helping with the preparations for the barbecue. Puck had the horrible habit of always been late, something that Sebastian couldn’t really stand, and it was getting on his nerves especially bad today.

“Relax, it’s just Blaine and Sam. If we haven’t got everything ready when they come they will just help” Puck said from the living room, where he was playing with a particularly loud videogame that was not helping to improve Sebastian’s mood in the least.

Sharing an apartment with Puck wasn’t something Sebastian would have never envisioned himself doing a couple of years ago. But when he finished his law degree and had returned to Ohio, he had been surprised to see he could hardly pay for an apartment on his own with his intern wages –he didn’t want any help from his parents for once–. Fortunately by then he and Blaine had regained their close friendship from high school, and it had been the petite boy who had told him about Puck’s looking for a roommate now that he was back in Lima to be closer to his family. And that’s how they had ended up living together. Which usually worked pretty well, especially considering how different they were. But not today. Today Sebastian was done with Puck’s selfishness.

“So you can’t bother helping me but our guests are supposed to do it?” Sebastian asked.

“I will help you when I finish this game, I already told you” Puck answered.

“If you had gotten up when you were supposed to, you and everything else would be ready now” Sebastian protested.

“Someone’s a little grumpy today” Puck mumbled, though Sebastian heard it and he had to make a big effort not to respond and bite his head off.

The doorbell rang and Sebastian almost dropped the tray with the meat he was carrying in surprise. He was shocked to see Puck had not made a move to answer the door.

“Will you please go and let them in? I have my hands full here!” Sebastian practically yelled.

“Ok, I’m coming!” Puck answered with a sigh, finally leaving the couch to open the door. “Hello, guys” he greeted Blaine and Sam with a big smile.

“Hi, Puck” Blaine answered with a smile of his own.

“What’s up, mate?” Sam told him, bumping his fist with his friend.

“Great, and you?” Puck asked as he let them in and took from Blaine’s hands the bag with a couple of bottles of wine they had brought. “How was your trip?”

“It was great, really was” Sam explained.

“And where’s that mate of mine?” Blaine asked, jokingly.

“He’s out there on the terrace, getting everything organized. I feel I must warn you he’s a little grumpy today”

“I heard that” Sebastian announced, as he came from the terrace. “And I’m not grumpy, it’s just that Puck enjoys grating on my nerves” he explained, sending a knowing look at Puck.

“How are you doing, mate?” Blaine asked as he went to warmly embrace his best friend.

“I’m good, Killer, thanks. Sam” he greeted him too with a friendly pat on his arm.

“Hi, Seb” Sam answered.

“Well, how can we help?” Blaine asked with a clap of his hands.

“See? I told you they would offer to help” Puck told Sebastian, teasingly.

“I knew they would offer, I just didn’t want them to have to do it” Sebastian replied, clearly annoyed.

“It’s okay, Seb, we don’t mind. Right, love?” Blaine intervened, turning to his boyfriend.

“Of course not” Sam answered, getting Blaine’s hint to relax the tense atmosphere. “Let’s see what we can do”

Sebastian accompanied them to the terrace, and they could see that everything was pretty much ready.

“But Seb, everything is already set up! Not much for us to do, right?” Blaine commented, trying to diminish the tension between their friends.

“No, we can start lighting the barbecue now” he answered.

“Sam can do it, he’s great with it, aren’t you, honey?” Blaine asked him, obviously proud of his lover.

“I think it’s just you being biased, but I’ll give it a go” Sam smiled lovingly at him before resting a kiss on the tip of Blaine’s nose and then moved to the barbecue. “Where’s the charcoal?”

“Puck, where’s the charcoal?” Sebastian turned expectantly to his roommate.

“I don’t know, where did you leave it?” Puck asked.

“Me? You bought it” Sebastian answered.

“No, I didn’t” Puck denied.

“What do you mean, you didn’t?”

“Well, I think it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?”

“You were supposed to check if there was any left”

“I did! And I told you there wasn’t”

“But you were supposed to buy it!” Sebastian accused him, angrily.

“No, I was only supposed to check!” Puck defended himself.

“Oh my God! Really, Puck? Do I have to do everything around here?”

“Ok, please, don’t argue” Blaine intervened, never fond of conflicts. “I’ll just go out and get some, and I’ll be here in a minute, ok? Isn’t there a little supermarket right on the corner of the street?”

“Yes, yes, there is. I’m so sorry, guys” Sebastian apologized.

“Don’t talk nonsense, mate. I’ll be right back”

“I’ll go with you, love” Sam offered, still feeling the effects of a week apart from him and wanting to spend every minute of the day with him, so he grabbed his hand and they entwined their fingers together to walk their way towards the front door and to the street.

“I hope you’re feeling proud of yourself” Sebastian told Puck, irritably.

Puck just sighed, ignoring him before moving back to the couch to continue his game.

**********

“I hope we can find the charcoal” Blaine commented, when he and Sam reached the little supermarket. “Otherwise they might just kill each other”

“I bet you’re regretting now that I let you out of bed this morning” Sam told him in a mischievous tone, as he jokingly grabbed Blaine’s ass.

“Sam!” he exclaimed, playfully slapping Sam’s hand away from his rear, laughing all the way. “You’re pretty much of a pervert, you know that?”

“Yeah, I know that, but I’ve never heard you complain about it” Sam teased him, grabbing his hand again to bring him close to him as they walked so he could kiss his cheek.

“No, I enjoy it very much, thank you” Blaine answered unashamedly, this time being him the one to make Sam chuckle.

They started searching for the charcoal in the first aisle next to the cash desk, but it wasn’t there. Sam, though, stopped in front of a chest freezer full of different kinds of ice-cream.

“Hey, babe, why don’t we take them some ice-cream and see if it relaxes them any?” Sam asked his partner.

“I don’t know if it will relax them, but it will surely put them in a better mood. At least Seb” he added with a smile.

“Which flavor should we pick?” Sam asked, inspecting carefully all the tubs.

“I don’t know, whichever you want” Blaine answered distractedly, as he watched a couple of young men entering the supermarket that caught his attention. They looked nervous and kept glancing around, as if waiting for something.

Blaine realized Sam was talking to him and he made an effort to listen to him, not taking his eyes from the newly arrived.

“What did you say?” he asked his boyfriend.

“Aren’t you a bit slow today?” he told him, half teasingly, half tenderly, as he kept looking at the ice-cream. “What about vanilla? Or chocolate?”

“Chocolate is okay” Blaine answered, not really caring anymore about which flavor of ice-cream would put Sebastian in a better mood, as he was getting a horrible feeling that something really bad was about to take place. And he wasn’t wrong.

It all happened very fast: as soon as the last costumer around the checkout was out, and before Blaine could move or even say a word, one the men at the entrance produced a gun and threatened the tiller with it if he didn’t give them all the money. The tiller, though, instead of obeying, made a strange movement, as if he was trying to reach a weapon himself from behind the counter, so the boy was clearly going to shoot to the air to scare the teller, and the gun was pointing to where they were standing.

“Sam, to the floor!” Blaine yelled and jumped on Sam to force him to the ground, as the gun went off and the bullet passed by where they had been standing only a second before, impacting on the window above the freezer and sending thousands of little pieces of glass over the crouching couple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? Is it worth it to continue with it?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! What a fantastic response I got! Thank you so much, you all!

Blaine remained with his arms around Sam’s head –his own head as crouched as he could– in a protective embrace until the sound of falling glass stopped around them. Then he slowly risked lifting his head to look around and saw how they were still alone on the aisle, although he could tell there were more people on the place, because he had heard a couple of yells accompanying the shot, and now he could hear someone crying and the rustling of clothes of someone apparently running.

Blaine slowly let go of Sam from where they were sitting on the floor and turned to look at the shoplifters, both of them with guns on their hands now.

“Idiot, why the hell did you do that?” the robber who seemed less dangerous yelled at the one who had shot. “Everybody will have heard it”

“Relax” the other answered, sounding as if he was having a good time with it. “My gun has a silencer, you know it makes much less sound like this. They will just think that a window broke. It could have happened for a million different reasons”

The other didn’t seem quite convinced from where Blaine and Sam were standing.

“Ok, everyone” the robber that had shot, and was clearly the leader, said aloud so everyone would hear him. “We just want the money. Everybody stays down and quiet and you won’t have any problems. You don’t want to discover what will happen if you make me angry”

“I don’t think they’ve seen us” Blaine whispered in Sam’s ear.

“You’re right. We should hide somewhere and see if we can get out of here through the emergency door at the back when it’s safe”

They looked around quickly, trying to determine a good place to hide and that they could reach easily. When he thought he had found a solution, Sam took Blaine’s hand and they silently squatted to move towards the end of the aisle, where Sam pushed Blaine behind another freezer and then he went behind it himself.

“Ok, take this bag” they heard how that awful man threw a bag to the cashier. “And fill it with everything you have. And don’t make any more silly moves or next time the bullet will go through your brain”

As the cashier diligently obeyed with his task, Blaine turned to Sam and cupped his cheeks to lift his face and see how he was.

“Are you alright?” Blaine whispered to him, clearly worried about his boyfriend’s welfare.

“Yes, yes, I’m okay. What about you?” he asked back, really looking at him and discovering a trail of blood on the left side of his face, coming from his forehead and already reaching the collar of his thin jersey. “Oh my God, you’re bleeding!”

“Am I?” Blaine answered, as he brought his hand to the point on his forehead Sam was looking at and his eyes widened in surprise at seeing his fingers covered in blood. “I must have gotten cut with the glass”

“Here, let me get it” Sam told him worriedly, as he used the bottom of his open shirt to press on the wound on Blaine’s forehead, not giving a shit that both his shirt and the T-shirt underneath it were getting soaked with blood, and unintentionally made Blaine hiss in pain. “I’m sorry, love, but it’s bleeding quite a lot and we have to stop it”

“It’s okay, don’t worry” Blaine tried to reassure his partner, who was holding the cloth over his forehead with one hand and gently caressing the top of his head with the other. “How are we going to get out of this?” Blaine asked, more rhetorically than waiting for an answer.

“I don’t know” Sam answered, gravelly.

“And everyone start taking off your jewels, watches, wallets, phones and all your valuables” said the other robber, as he started walking down the aisles, collecting the things belonging to the other costumers scattered around the supermarket.

“Do you think people will have heard the shot from outside?” Blaine asked, practically soundless so Sam had to read his lips.

“I don’t know. As much as the gun has a silencer it sounded pretty loud to me, but I don’t know if it could be heard from the outside. We can’t trust for anyone to help, we have to do something” Sam answered as he lifted the cloth from Blaine’s forehead to check how it was, and he was relieved to find it had stopped bleeding already.

“Maybe we should just wait for them to go” Blaine suggested.

“And what if they don’t go so easily? Or they take some hostages with them? Or decide they don’t want to leave any witnesses? We don’t know how much of a killer these two are, we can’t take the risk”

“But what can we do?”

“I’ll call the police with my cell phone” he said, taking the phone out of his pocket and quickly dialing the emergency number. He put the phone on his ear, ready to talk, when Blaine grabbed his arm and pulled it down.

“Wait!” he whispered.

“What?” Sam mouthed, and Blaine signaled with his head the presence of the robber very near them.

Sam didn’t take the risk of speaking with the man so near them, so they waited until the man started walking down the next aisle away from them.

“Please, we need help” Sam started when he supposed the man was far enough, as he needed to speak a little louder so as to be heard. “We are being held hostages in a robbery in...”

“Jim, there’s a guy speaking on the phone there, can’t you hear him?” the robber waiting for the teller to fill the bag yelled at the other one.

When Blaine realized they had been discovered and the guy named Jim was coming towards them, he quickly had another idea and grabbed his own phone, pressed Sebastian’s speed dialer button and put it back on his pocket so it wouldn’t be noticed, hoping the rustling of his clothes wouldn’t muffle the sound of what was happening too much.

Jim reached them very quickly and pointed his gun at Sam’s head.

“Are you calling someone?”

**********

Sebastian and Puck were sitting on the terrace, waiting for their friends to come back with the charcoal. Neither one of them felt much like talking to the other, because they were starting to feel bad about their stupid argument that had sent their guests out to solve it. Then Sebastian’s phone started ringing, so he grabbed it from the table and looked at the screen to see it was his best friend.

“It’s Blaine. I hope he is not calling to say they didn’t find any charcoal” he informed Puck. “What’s up, Killer? Don’t tell me you haven’t found it, please” Sebastian asked as he picked up the phone, afraid his barbecue was going to be a complete failure.

However, he got no response from the caller, and all Sebastian could hear was the characteristic sound of a phone going off on its own in someone’s pocket.

“What is he saying?” Puck asked, curious.

“Nothing, I don’t think he even knows he’s calling me” Sebastian answered, but just when he was about to hang up, he heard a voice he didn’t recognize yelling at someone to drop his phone or they would get shot. “What the hell...?”

“What?” Puck asked, seeing the confusion on his roommate’s face, but Sebastian made a move with his hand to keep Puck from talking and kept listening to the sounds on the phone until he recognized Blaine’s familiar voice, but with a fear in it that made it completely different at the same time.

 _“Sam, please, do as he says”_ Sebastian heard Blaine urging his boyfriend and rapidly understood what was going on.

“Holly shit” was all Sebastian could say.

**********

“I told you to throw your phone away!” Jim insisted.

Sam sighed annoyingly, realizing he had been very close to telling the police where they were, but he had not made it. And on top of everything, he and Blaine had been discovered, so their hopes to escape had disappeared now that they were going to be watched.

“I will not tell you again!” Jim insisted, pressing the barrel of his weapon to Sam’s head.

“Sam, please” Blaine pleaded desperately, and it was that what made Sam gave in to the robber’s demands, so he threw the phone to the floor, away from him.

“Now you two, out of there” he said, grabbing Sam’s shirt to make him stand up. “I want you where I can see you, it’s plain to see you can’t be trusted”

“Don’t touch me” Sam told him curtly, slapping his hand away from him. “I can make it on my own”

“Will you please stop that?” Blaine scolded him with a whisper as he also stood up. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“We were so close to telling the police what was happening” Sam answered as they followed the robber to the front of the supermarket, feeling very disappointed about not having been able to contact the police.

“We might have managed to do it anyway”

“How?” Sam asked, intrigued with what his boyfriend meant, but before he could obtain an answer, Jim got tired of their whispering.

“You two, you better shut your mouths or I’ll shut them for you, is that clear?”

Blaine threw Sam a meaningful look to keep him from answering back, and they both sat down on the floor where the robber told them to, while he kept pointing at them with his gun to avoid any strange movements.

The other robber looked at them, as if trying to decide if they were going to be a problem to them or not.

“Hey, what happened to that one?” he asked Jim, when he saw all the blood on Blaine’s jersey.

Jim turned to him, as if waiting for an answer directly from him. Blaine turned to Sam before answering, but he knew it was not wise to make them angry.

“A glass from the broken window fell on me and cut me on my forehead”

The robber on the check out just laughed, apparently very amused with the situation. Sam just gulped when he realized he was a total lunatic, so he was probably going to be even more dangerous than he had initially thought.

“Seems like it’s not your lucky day, eh?” he asked rhetorically, but Blaine didn’t answer this time. The robber then turned to the cashier, and impatiently yelled at him. “Are you done with the bag yet?”

“Yes, yes, it’s here” said the frightened teller, handing the bag to the robber.

Suddenly the sound of approaching sirens filled the street outside. The raiders’ faces turned white at the realization they were not going to be able to escape as easily as they had originally thought.

“That’s your fault!” Jim said, grabbing Sam by the collar of his shirt. “You called them!”

“Yes, I called them but you heard me, I didn’t get to tell them anything!” Sam tried to defend himself.

The robber knew that was right, and he also knew he had taken their phones from all the people in the shop, so it was impossible that any of them had called. Except...

“You” he signaled at Blaine. “Do you have a phone?”

Blaine knew if they discovered his phone, that would still be on line if Sebastian hadn’t hung up, they would get very angry, and they would probably hurt him or, worse yet, Sam. So he remained silent.

“I asked you a question!” he said, grabbing Blaine by the back of his neck and forcing him to stand up.

“Hey, don’t touch him!” Sam said, trying to stand up too, but the robber wasn’t in the mood for any nonsense and punched Sam right in the face, sending him back to the floor even before he was able to get up.

Blaine had never been a violent person, but seeing his boyfriend being treated any less than lovingly awoke in him a fury he was not used to and, before he knew what he was doing, he had thrown the hardest punch he was able on the guy’s chin, sending him a couple of steps backwards, years of practice in boxing turning out to be very helpful. He was going to go for more when he felt the pressure of a gun on his cheek, and heard Sam gasp in fear for him.

“Looks like we have a couple of heroes right here” the other robber, not moving his weapon from Blaine’s face, told them sarcastically. “It’s the last time I warn you, you try to do something like that again and I assure you you’ll regret it”

“Luke, see if he does have a phone” Jim insisted, bringing his hand to his hurt chin to rub it.

The robber called Luke searched Blaine’s pockets, and it was not difficult for him to find what he was looking for. He looked at the screen, and a wicked grin broke in his lips when he saw it was still in the middle of a call. He pressed the red button to end the call, still grinning in a terrifying way, and then all of a sudden his expression turned to fury and he threw the phone aggressively to the floor, breaking it instantly.

“You’re going to pay for this” he told Blaine menacingly, all trace of a smile in his face gone.


	3. Chapter 3

The tension was palpable to everyone in the shop as the robber called Luke debated with himself what to do with that smart aleck hostage that had put them to the test –and succeeded– and had made everything very complicated for them.

Luke approached Blaine, and the latter held his gaze proudly, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of showing him how scared he really was. Luke gave him a wicked half grin and then, without warning, just punched Blaine’s face, without him being able to do anything to avoid it.

Sam just started to get up again to go in his defense, but Jim had already seen it coming and again aimed his weapon at Sam’s head, stopping his movements at once. It took all of his willpower to stay still, but Sam knew he couldn’t risk it, and bit his lip strongly until it bled when he had to watch Luke give his boyfriend a punch to his stomach that doubled him over in pain and sent him to the floor on all fours, panting heavily.

It was quiet clear that Luke had not had enough when he grabbed Blaine’s hair and forced him to lift his head again while on his knees and put his gun to Blaine’s temple, pressing it so strongly that Sam could almost feel the pain on his own head.

“Give me a good reason not to blow your brains right now!” he yelled at Blaine’s ear, making him wince in pain and fear, which Sam couldn’t take anymore.

“It couldn’t have been him, they can’t be that fast! The shot must have alerted them!” Sam desperately yelled, trying to make excuses to avoid Blaine getting hurt any further.

“That doesn’t change the fact he tried to outsmart us, didn’t he?” Luke answered, not relaxing a bit the grip on Blaine’s hair that kept him motionless under the threat of the gun.

“He didn’t though, did he? You caught him, you win” Sam tried to convince them, even if he knew his arguments were pretty poor.

Luke took a moment to weigh Sam’s words and then pushed Blaine’s head away from him, making him fall to the floor again.

“Don’t play with me again or I won’t hesitate” he warned him, reinforcing his threat with a vicious kick to Blaine’s side that elicited an involuntary groan from him and a sympathetic wince from Sam, who had felt the pain of each blow as if he had been the one receiving it.

Jim and Luke moved to the window to assess the situation outside, and Luke shot a couple of times outside to make sure the police understood they were not supposed to come in.

“Move a step closer and we’ll start shooting the people in here!” he shouted, and the policemen obeyed in resignation, staying behind their cars.

Meanwhile, Sam crawled to where Blaine lay, still motionless, and helped him sit up very carefully.

“B, are you okay?” he whispered worriedly in Blaine’s ear as he helped him move towards the wall they were supposed to be sitting against, though Blaine wasn’t able to answer because of the pain until they made it to their place and Sam put his arm around him to let him lean on his chest for support.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t worry, love” he whispered back, trying to regain the breath that the kick to his side had stolen.

“Easy, babe, just take deep breaths” Sam recommended with a kiss to Blaine’s temple, and Blaine just closed his eyes at the contact in a mixture of relief they were both still alive and fear of how long they would keep that way.

As Blaine rested his head on Sam’s shoulder, trying to keep the pain in his face and side at bay, he noticed something he had not been aware of before: apart from the teller, the two women and the old man being kept hostages with them, there was yet another person: a young boy, about fourteen or fifteen, who was hiding under some shelves and hadn’t been noticed by the burglars either. The boy looked scared at having been found, but Blaine slightly nodded at him in silent agreement to not give away his hiding place and brought his finger to his lips to show him he had to remain silent.

**********

Sebastian and Puck were literally running down the street towards the supermarket with their hearts in their mouths when they noticed a good number of police cars around the shop, with some policemen aiming his weapons towards the place and others sealing off the area, surrounding it with mobile fencing to keep bystanders away.

“They sure have been very quick” Puck observed as they both made their way through the crowd until they were able to approach an officer.

“Excuse me, sir” Sebastian addressed him, but the policeman just tried to dismiss them, mistaking them for just some citizens moved by morbid curiosity.

“There’s nothing to see here, if you will please...” he started, but Sebastian didn’t let him finish.

“We are the ones who called you” Sebastian told him hurriedly.

“Come with me” the officer told them as he moved the fence to let them in and he took them to the officer in charge.

**********

The two robbers were heatedly discussing what to do next. Both of them seemed quite inexperienced in robberies with hostages, and that’s what scared Sam the most: they would be acting on impulse. And that Luke guy seemed pretty violent and even mentally unstable. Maybe he was not an expert, but he didn’t seem to be having too hard a time with this. It was almost like he was enjoying it.

“I’m afraid of what they will do once they realize they don’t have a way out of here” Sam whispered in Blaine’s ear. Blaine was still resting against Sam’s chest, his breathing having regained a normal frequency and the pain from the blows having diminished to a dull ache. He nodded at Sam’s comment.

“I know, I’m very worried too. They don’t seem to know what to do and if the police just barge in here shooting...” Blaine didn’t finish his sentence, knowing his boyfriend would understand what he meant.

The robber called Luke, who was clearly feeling more confident than Jim, turned to the hostages, all sitting together against the wall –except for the boy under the shelves– to announce what was going to take place.

“Ok, here’s what’s going to happen. We are going to barricade this place so nobody comes in or out. All of you, stand up and start moving shelves and freezers to block the door and the windows. And no suspicious movements from any of you or I won’t hesitate to put a bullet between your eyebrows, is that clear? That goes for the heroes, too” he added with a wicked crooked grin, looking at Blaine and Sam.

The hostages got up from the floor and submissively started obeying the robber’s orders. Blaine, though, felt that he had to do something or they wouldn’t come out of there alive. If the burglars wanted to barricade the shop it meant they were planning to spend there a very long time, and each second spent at their hands was a risk of receiving a bullet. And he knew he would not be able to stand it if he had to watch someone dying in front of him, especially if it was Sam. He would never survive that.

“Look” Blaine addressed Luke, while Sam grabbed Blaine’s arm to try and stop him from doing anything foolish, though Blaine ignored him. “You haven’t killed anyone yet. Just let everyone go and it will be just a robbery, you’ll go easy on that” Blaine calmly tried to reason with them.

“You can’t just shut up, can you?” Luke answered him, lifting his weapon again to aim it at Blaine’s chest, in case he made any brusque movement.

“I just want you to consider your options” Blaine told him carefully, disentangling his arm from Sam’s grip so as to let him know that he was not going to back down.

“Armed robbery and with our criminal record? No way we’ll get it easy. You brought this on yourself with your call, so now you’ll have to take the consequences. Whatever happens here today, be sure it was your fault”

“Look, mister...” Blaine tried again.

“It’s the last time I tell you” Luke angrily retorted. “Shut your fucking mouth and start working like everybody else, because my patience is wearing thin” he threatened, lifting his arm even more to aim his weapon directly at Blaine’s face.

This time Sam grabbed his arm much more cogently and forced him to move in the opposite direction of the robber so he would help him move a freezer in front of the big window at the front of the shop.

“If you’re planning to give me a heart attack, you’re doing a great job” Sam whispered at him, reproachfully.

“I’m sorry” he answered honestly. “I just wanted to get us out of here. I had to try”

“Well, stop trying and start obeying. It’s the only way we are going to get out of here” Sam warned him still kind of angry.

“I’m sorry” Blaine repeated, feeling guilty about causing Sam to worry, just before he winced at the pain on his side when he tried to move the fridge, a gesture that of course didn’t go unnoticed to his loving boyfriend.

“Be careful with those bruised ribs, that monster might have cracked some of them. I’ll push it, you just pretend you’re helping”

Blaine smiled, realizing that no matter how angry Sam was at him he would still take care of him without a doubt. He discreetly placed a gentle kiss on Sam’s cheek and look directly at his eyes.

“I’m sorry” he told him once more, and kept looking at him until Sam caved in and nodded at him reluctantly, eliciting a smile from Blaine that Sam answered with a forgiving caress to his cheek.

“Just don’t do it again” Sam told him as he started pushing the freezer again, with the little help Blaine was able to offer because of his injured middle.

**********

“So were you able to talk to one of the hostages?” the officer in charge asked Sebastian.

“Not really talk. He just called me so I could hear what was happening, and since we knew where he was...” Sebastian answered, trying to be as helpful as possible to get his friends out of there.

“And what did you hear?”

“I heard someone yelling at someone else to drop their phone, and then my friend asking his boyfriend to do what that person was telling him. That’s when my roommate here called you while I kept listening to what was going on. I heard my friend explaining he had been hurt with the glass of a broken window. And then they heard the sirens and they realized it must have been my friend who had got you there and a fight broke. I know my friend’s boyfriend was hit and he my friend to defend him, but when they finally found the phone the line went dead”

“Do you know how many robbers or hostages are in there?”

“I’m not sure. At least there are two robbers, I don’t know if there’s anyone else. I don’t know about the hostages, only my friends”

“Okay. Thanks for the information, now if you will please leave the area...” the officer told them, gently pushing them towards the fence again.

“What? No way!” Sebastian answered, angrily slapping the officer’s arm from him. “There’s no way we are moving from here! That’s my best friend and his boyfriend in there, I’m not going anywhere until I know they’re alright!”

“Sir, I understand your worry, but we don’t know the state of the hostages or the danger of the situation”

“That’s why we are staying until we know” Sebastian decidedly answered.

“Okay, do as you please. But you have to stay out of the way”

“Of course, we won’t interfere in anything” Sebastian promised.

“Do you think they’re alright?” Puck asked the other boy as they retreated behind the police cars.

“I don’t know” Sebastian answered, frankly. “The fact that they found it was Blaine who had got the police here... But on the other hand, no more shots were heard, were they?”

“I hope you’re right” Puck answered sadly, as he squeezed his friend’s shoulder in a sympathetic gesture.

It was then when they heard the officer in charge asking for the telephone number of the shop so they could communicate with the robbers.

**********

“Ok, everybody sit down again where you were before” Jim told the hostages while aiming at them with his gun to convince them to obey. Sam picked Blaine’s hand, to make sure he wouldn’t try anything else, and accompanied him to the wall where he helped him sit down, as his side felt very painful.

“Are you okay?” Sam asked him when he noticed Blaine’s holding his breath in pain.

“Yes, don’t worry. It was just the movement, I feel better already” Blaine answered with a smile, running the back of his hand across Sam’s jaw to reassure him, eliciting a small and sad smile from him in return.

The silence of the shop was broken abruptly when a phone started ringing.

“Who’s that?” Jim asked the hostages, and everyone looked at the others, trying to figure out who could that be, as all of them had been deprived of their own mobile phones.

“That’s the shop phone” the teller explained. “But it hardly ever rings”

“Maybe it’s the police outside wanting to talk to you” Sam suggested, eager for something to happen that would change their situation.

Jim and Luke looked at each other, undecided. They did not know if they were ready to talk to the police, but at the same time they knew it was what they needed, it was why they had barricaded the shop for: to impose their conditions to liberate their hostages and be able to escape from there. So Luke walked decidedly to the phone and picked it up confidently.

“Who is this?” he answered, and all the people in the shop sat listening intently to his part of the conversation. “Yes, we know you’re out there, you’ve made it pretty obvious... ...Look I don’t think you’re in any position to be giving orders, mister. I have seven hostages at my mercy, do you hear?”

Seven? Blaine counted the people around him: there were two women, the old man, the teller and Sam and himself. A total of six. Of course there was the boy under the shelves too, but they weren’t aware of his presence. So why had he lied about it?

“I want 500.000 dollars in cash, unmarked and with no correlative numbers. And I want a car too, with the keys inside, at the door. You have an hour... ...Don’t interrupt me! I said an hour, I don’t care if it’s a lot of money... ...Just look at it this way: if an hour from now I don’t have what I want, I’ll start killing hostages, one every half hour of delay in getting my money, is that clear?”

Blaine and Sam looked at each other and both could see the terror in the other’s eyes. This was getting worse and worse by the minute, and there was nothing they could do except to wait and be patient. Sam grabbed Blaine’s hand and entwined their fingers together, wanting for them to give each other the strength to cope with the situation.

“No, you cannot speak with any of the hostages...” Luke continued talking on the phone. “Will you just shut up?... ...Do you want to see how serious I am? This is how serious I am” he shouted and then he aimed his gun and shot.

**********

There was a collective gasp outside when the shot was heard. Puck covered his mouth to stifle a shriek and Sebastian’s eyes filled with tears.

“He says there’s only six hostages left now” the officer on the phone said, putting his phone back on his pocket, kicking the dirt in frustration.

“Please, don’t let it be Blaine or Sam” Puck whispered as he embraced Sebastian, whose shoulders were starting to shake under the pressure of the coming sobs.


	4. Chapter 4

The noise of the shot was still resounding in Blaine’s ears when he dared to open his eyes. He knew Sam had not been shot, as his grip on his own hand was as strong as before –probably even stronger–, so at least he didn’t have to worry about it. He looked at him anyway, just in case, and saw in his gaze the same mixture of terror and relief that he was sure was reflected in his own eyes. He squeezed Sam’s hand in his own and tenderly brushed his jaw with the other hand as a reassurance that they both were alright for the time being before moving his attention to his surroundings.

He looked around, fixing his gaze for a second in each one of the people sitting near them, trying to decipher if any of them had received a bullet. But no. Everybody seemed to be alright. Physically, at least. The shot hadn’t hit anybody, then.

Blaine looked at the robbers again: Jim was keeping an eye outside through a window from behind a freezer barricading it, making sure not to be an easy target to the policemen outside. And Luke was keeping watch over them, with a sick grin, greatly amused at making them tremble with fear. So that’s why he had lied about how many hostages there were: that way he could make the police believe he had already killed a hostage and that he was serious about his threats without having to actually kill anybody yet. He may be inexperienced in that kind of robberies, but he surely was no stupid.

The woman sitting next to Blaine, who had seemed to be in some kind of shock when he had looked at her, suddenly came out of his stupor and started crying violently, making a lot of noise and grating on Luke’s nerves.

“Hey woman, you shut up right now or I’ll do it for you” Luke threatened her, approaching her menacingly, but the woman was completely out of herself and was incapable of stopping her lament. “I’m warning you!” he insisted, moving his gun in front of her face.

“You’re only making it worse!” Sam dared to tell him, before he could stop himself, and he felt Blaine’s hand squeezing his again to keep him in check.

Then Blaine, trying to ignore Luke’s proximity, took the hand of the woman sitting next to him in an attempt of comforting her so she would calm down before the burglar got really angry; his main worry right now was that Sam would get out of that hell unscathed, but that didn’t mean he wanted anybody else to get hurt.

“Hey, madam. Listen to me: everything is going to be alright. You just have to calm down, ok? Could you do that for me?” he told her, in the most careful and soft voice he was able.

“I... can’t... I...” she tried to tell between sobs, looking at his eyes. Something about this young stranger sitting next to her, who had already been hurt while trying to protect who seemed to be his partner and now only wanted to help her, made her trust him, and she really wanted to try and take notice of his words.

“Of course you can, you just have to breathe deep, okay? Breathe with me” Blaine told her, rubbing her arm comfortingly as she tried to match his breaths with Blaine’s and succeeded after a while. “Now you just close your eyes and rest for a bit, ok? I’ll be right here, next to you. You’re not alone”

The woman just nodded and obeyed, and Luke sighed, almost disappointed the situation had been solved without his intervention.

“It looks like the hero can solve every situation, doesn’t he?” he sarcastically told Blaine, and was disappointed again in obtaining any answer from him, so he turned to join Jim on his vigilance of the outside.

“It looks like your magic touch still works” Sam joked, whispering at Blaine’s ear to catch his attention.

Blaine just turned to him and smiled, his heart warming instantly when Sam reciprocated his smile with a loving one of his own, and then he tenderly traced Sam’s jaw with his thumb, looking at him worriedly.

“You’re getting a big bruise here” he informed his boyfriend sadly, and Sam could only chuckle at his huge and compassionate heart –even if it was just plain ridiculous, as Blaine’s face itself surely looked worse for the wear.

“Babe, you should just see your face” Sam answered, placing a light kiss at Blaine’s swollen eyelid, where a big bruise was forming around his eye.

“You still look as beautiful as ever, though” Blaine joked, resting his head on Sam’s shoulder, suddenly feeling very tired.

“Again, you should just see your face, gorgeous” Sam joked back, lifting his hand to loosely embrace him and caress the back of Blaine’s neck while resting his own head on top of his.

**********

Sebastian kept pacing the ground outside the shop nervously, unable to keep still in the same place for more than five seconds. Puck, on the contrary, was crouched against a police car, with his hands covering his mouth, so still that he looked like a statue.

“How long it’s been?” Sebastian asked him, all off a sudden, frightening Puck out of his stupor.

“About forty five minutes” Puck answered with a deep sigh, looking at his watch.

“And they still haven’t moved a finger to meet their demands!” Sebastian complained loudly.

“They’re trying” Puck replied in a soft voice, trying to remain calm for the sake of both of them. “It’s not easy to collect such a big sum so quickly”

“And what about the car? How difficult is to get a car, for God’s sake!” Sebastian shouted, obviously frustrated, and Puck stood up to rest a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder. If he was so terrified about the whole situation, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how Sebastian, who had such a close friendship with Blaine, had to be feeling.

“Hey, easy” Puck told him, reassuringly, as he patted his back in their embrace. “I know how you’re feeling, but we have to be patient. They’re doing everything they can”

“I know” Sebastian answered, with an obvious lump in his throat. “But if something happens to Blaine… or Sam, I just...” he wasn’t able to finish the sentence, though Puck didn’t need it to understand him. “I don’t even want to imagine how they are coping with what they’re going through, especially if one of them...” Once again he couldn’t find the strength to put an end the sentence.

“I know” Puck answered, feeling tears coming to his eyes too. After all, and even if he usually liked to feign he didn’t have feelings, he loved those two very much too.

**********

“Twelve minutes left” Luke announced, turning to the hostages with a cynical grin. “Twelve minutes left and nobody’s moving outside. They don’t seem to care very much about you lot, do they?”

“Luke, we just asked for too much with very little time, maybe if we gave them another hour...” Jim suggested, not very comfortable with the idea of starting killing people. It was one thing to steal. But to murder people on cold blood...

“So what, we just tell them we changed our opinion? They won’t take us seriously then, they have to understand who they’re dealing with” Luke answered with confidence. “If we don’t have our money in twelve minutes, we’ll kill one of them. Come on, I’ll even let you pick our first... helper” Luke told him, amused at his own remark.

“Is this all a big joke to you?” Jim asked him, but Luke just laughed and turned away to the window again.

Everyone in the shop started trembling, and a few prayers were sent in hopes of not being the chosen one to receive the first bullet from those two maniacs. Even the boy from under the shelf seemed to be getting kind of desperate as Blaine checked on him.

The boy looked back at Blaine, apprehension obvious in his eyes. Blaine lifted his head from Sam’s shoulder to take a better look at him, sensing the boy was planning something.

“I’ll try to reach the backdoor” the boy mouthed.

“No!” Blaine whispered.

“No what?” Sam asked his boyfriend with a confused expression, thinking he was talking to him.

“Don’t do it, please!” Blaine pleaded with the boy not to do anything foolish. Sam realized what was going on when he followed Blaine’s gaze and he saw the boy too, tensing immediately about what was going to happen.

“They will kill you” Sam intervened, trying to help his boyfriend in convincing the boy to stay where he was.

“I have to try” the boy finally answered. “I’m not staying here to be picked to die”

“You’re not going to die” Blaine tried to reason with him, even if he understood how much difficult it was to be patient and rational at that boy’s age. “They don’t know you’re there, nothing’s going to happen to you if you stay down there!”

“I’m sorry” the boy sadly told him, and taking advantage of how both the robbers were busy checking outside and not looking at their hostages, he made his way out from under the shelves, agile as a cat, and started running towards the back door.

Blaine had to cover his mouth with both his hands to stop himself from shouting for him to stop and giving away the boy’s existence. If there was a chance for the boy to make it, it would not be him screwing it up.

No soon these words crossed his mind, though, the sound of a shot filled the air of the shop and stopped the hearts of both Sam and Blaine for a second. Two more sounds followed it: the thump of a body on the floor and the rustling of Blaine’s clothes as he tried to get up to go to the boy.

“What are you doing?” Sam whispered angrily as he grabbed Blaine’s arms strongly, painfully, but he didn’t care. He would do anything to prevent Blaine undergoing the same fate as the boy, and if that meant hurting him to achieve it, so be it.

Blaine, though, was not making it easy for him, and struggled to free himself from Sam’s grip.

“Stay still!” Sam ordered Blaine furiously.

“Let go of me!” Blaine answered, shock and grief clouding his good judgment for a moment.

“You’ll get shot too, can’t you see it?”

“Let me go to him, he needs help” Blaine implored.

“Please, B, don’t be a fool” Sam’s anger turned to pleading.

“I have to help him!” the desperation in Blaine’s voice was so evident that it pained Sam’s heart greatly.

Sam tried to reason with him, grabbing his face roughly to force him to look at him.

“You can’t help him anymore!”

That’s when Blaine saw all the pain and fear and Sam’s eyes and understood what he meant. He looked at the boy sprawled a few feet for them, his head turned on his side, facing them, eyes wide open but with no life in them.

“Oh God” were the only words Blaine was able to pronounce when reality hit him with force. Tears flooded his eyes and a couple of them made his way down his cheeks silently, unnoticed, though no sobs were allowed.

Blaine let himself be pulled to sit quietly on the ground again, all fight in him disappeared all of a sudden, and felt an arm going around his shoulders to bring him closer to the chest that had always been a source of comfort for him, familiar lips planting a kiss on his temple.

“We’ll get out of this” Sam whispered in his ear. And for the first time in his life he didn’t believe Sam’s words.


	5. Chapter 5

“Where the hell did that kid come from?” Luke yelled angrily, his gun still pointing at the dead body after the shot. “Did anyone know about him?”

Of course, none of the hostages said anything, as they were having too hard a time controlling their emotions at having just seen a boy killed in front of them, and realizing those men’s intentions of killing one of them in just a few minutes were very real.

“Luke, why the hell did you do that? Now we’re murderers!” Jim reproached him angrily.

“He just came out of nowhere and was going to escape, it was an instinctive reaction! Besides, you need to understand that, if it’s what we need to do for those cops to take us seriously, we’ll do it. When I said I would kill them one by one it was not a bluff, you hear me?” Luke answered, equally angry about always having to be the one to take the lead.

Luke approached Blaine and Sam, as he had seen them arguing after the boy was shot, and suspected something was going on.

“Did any of you know about the boy?” he repeated, playing with his weapon in front of their faces.

Blaine and Sam knew it was not the time to do anything foolish, so they both shook their heads in negation and Blaine brought a finger to his cheeks to dry the tears there.

“Why were you wrestling after the boy fell?”

Sam looked at Blaine, but he seemed to be in some kind of shock or something, because he wasn’t lifting his gaze from the floor and it was evident that he was not going to say a word. That’s why Sam took the initiative and answered for the both of them.

“He... he wanted to go to the boy and I didn’t let him take the risk of you putting a bullet into him too, especially if there wasn’t anything he could do for the boy” Sam answered truthfully and as calmly as he could.

“Of course, always the hero. Are you sure you did not know about the boy before he came out of nowhere?” Luke asked, suspiciously.

“No, we didn’t, I swear” Sam replied quickly, not giving his boyfriend the chance to answer, because he suspected Blaine had known about the boy all along.

“Well, you did well to stop him, or otherwise there would be two bodies lying on the floor instead of one” Luke told Sam with a wicked grin.

Suddenly, the supermarket’s phone started ringing again. Luke walked confidently to pick it up, knowing that the shot had alerted the police men outside the shop and it was good for him, as they surely would know how serious he was now.

“What do you want?” he asked cockily, as he picked up the phone. “Yes, I know there were still ten minutes left, but a situation arose. There was another hostage we were not aware of, just a kid, and the idiot tried to escape so we had to take care of it”

Sam felt Blaine shiver at the cold-blooded way Luke talked about what had just taken place. Sam knew Blaine like the back of his hand, and knew that, in some way, he was feeling guilty, either about not having been able to stop the boy or even about him surviving a situation when such a young boy had been killed in front of his eyes.

“So yes, he’s dead now, but there’re still six hostages left. I’m feeling generous today, so I’m willing to accept this was the hostage who was going to be killed in ten minutes. So look at it this way: you still have six hostages left, same as before, but you still have another half hour before I kill the next one. This must be your lucky day after all!” Luke finished the conversation with a laugh, and Sam just entwined his fingers with Blaine’s to stop him in case he reacted to Luke’s words. But he didn’t: he just kept his gaze lowered to the floor and didn’t even acknowledge Sam’s grip on his hand.

**********

“What happened?” Sebastian asked desperately to the policeman who had been talking to the robbers, when he saw the conversation was over.

“A hostage was killed” he told them sadly.

“But did he say who it was?” Puck asked, as he laid a hand on Sebastian’s shoulder and squeezed it.

“He said it was a young boy they didn’t know was there until he tried to escape”

Both Puck and Sebastian breathed, relieved, though Sebastian couldn’t help but reproach him of the situation.

“How could you let something like that happen? Why aren’t you doing something?”

“We are trying!” the policemen answered, equally angry. “What do you want us to do, to enter shooting and having everyone killed? Because I can assure you it’s what will happen”

Sebastian didn’t know how to answer to that, and Puck just pulled of him and again retreated together to the back of a car. Puck could see Sebastian was not looking as relieved as he should, considering they knew Blaine and Sam had not been the victims of the robbers’ guns.

“Hey, what’s wrong? We know it wasn’t any of them, the robbers said they didn’t know about the boy before, and they surely knew about Blaine and Sam, so it’s impossible it’s them” Puck tried to convince his roomate he should be feeling thankful.

“I know, Puck, and I’m feeling very relieved, I swear. But how long are they going to stay safe?” Sebastian asked, but Puck just lowered his gaze, as he had no answer to that question. “And how wicked is that, that we must feel happy that a young boy was killed, just because it wasn’t our friends? It’s not right” Sebastian explained, and Puck squeezed his shoulder again.

“I understand, I feel that way too, but it’s just normal. You’re not a bad person just because you’re glad your best friend is alive”

“Am I not?” Sebastian asked him with glassy eyes, wanting to believe him.

“Of course not! I know you feel sorry about the boy too, but you need to concentrate your thoughts on the people you know and love, and that’s Blaine and Sam. Everything else is... not important anymore”

Sebastian sighed and nodded, trying to control his emotions, and just embraced Puck tightly, trying to give and obtain comfort at the same time.

**********

More than twenty minutes had passed, and Blaine had still not said a word. Sam was starting to worry about his mental state on top of everything else, so he tried to talk to him.

“B?” he asked, tentatively, looking at him.

“Yes?” Blaine answered, turning to look at Sam too, eliciting a relieved sigh from his boyfriend.

“I thought you were in some kind of shock. You’ve been too quiet for a long time”

“It’s just... there is nothing to say” Blaine answered sadly, lowering his gaze again.

Sam couldn’t stand seeing him like this, so he put an arm around his shoulders and brought him to his chest, making him rest his curly head on his shoulder.

“It was not your fault” Sam told him, reading his thoughts, and Blaine lifted his head from Sam’s shoulder so he could look at him.

“How do you know...?” Blaine asked in surprise.

“Sweetie, I know you too well, you should know that. And I know you’re feeling guilty about what happened to the boy. But there was nothing you could have done”

“I should have tried harder to convince him not to move...” Blaine explained, again resting his head on Sam’s shoulder.

“How? He didn’t give you the option, did he? He was out of his hiding place before you could do anything about it”

“I know, but...”

“No buts, B. You couldn’t do anything. You are not to blame in any way, and you don’t have to feel responsible for everything that happens around you. Only those monsters are to blame, not you” Sam tried to reason with his upset boyfriend while rubbing his arm lovingly, and Blaine could feel new tears coming to his eyes, though he didn’t let them fall.

“He was just a kid” he lamented, and closed his eyes in grief when he felt Sam’s lips on his temple, leaving a silent kiss meant to comfort and reassure him of his love.

“I know, babe” Sam said, knowing there was nothing that could make Blaine feel better.

**********

The time for their second deadline was approaching fast, and Jim and especially Luke were getting impatient –which worried Sam to a big extent.

“I can’t see no movement outside” Jim commented, and Luke punched the counter on frustration.

“What the hell are they doing? Do they think they can play with us?” Luke yelled angrily.

“What can we do?” Jim asked rhetorically, but Luke took is a challenge.

“We just need to make sure they understand we are going to go until the end with this. I’ll just go outside with one of the hostages, with a gun to their head, and remind them they have less than ten minutes left or someone else will be killed”

“Isn’t it too risky? They could just start shooting you”

“No, I’ll be using the hostage as a shield”

“Who are you going to take?”

“I’ll take one of the heroes, to make sure the other stays put and obeys if he doesn’t want his loved one to take the consequences... Take the one with all the blood, it will cause a greater impact” Luke said, and Jim hurried to comply and grabbed Blaine roughly by the collar of his jersey to make him stand up, to which Blaine didn’t offer any resistance. He knew if it wasn’t him it would be someone else –maybe even Sam–, and he was feeling guilty enough for not having helped the boy without any more burdens on his conscience.

Sam, though, was not as keen as to let his boyfriend accompany these crazy people, knowing there was a very big risk he would end up trapped in a shooting –the police would probably prefer to “sacrifice” one of the hostages if it came to that to save the other five–. He stood up quicker that would seem possible and pushed Jim’s arms away from Blaine.

“You’re not taking him anywhere” he told Jim confidently, emboldened by his love for Blaine and the chance of losing him.

“Sit down immediately” Jim ordered him, aiming his gun at Sam’s head, but the latter didn’t let himself be intimidated by it this time and didn’t move an inch. “I told you to sit down!” Jim yelled at him as he pushed Blaine to the door, but once again Sam intervened and put himself between his boyfriend and Jim.

“And I told you you’re not taking him anywhere” Sam responded, menacingly, even with a gun pressing on his cheek now.

“Sam, just do as he says, for God’s sake!” Blaine ordered pleadingly, and for a moment he was tempted to obey –he was usually incapable of denying Blaine anything after all–, but then he remembered it was Blaine’s life that was at stake and he resolved to stay firm.

“You’re not taking him anywhere” Sam repeated one more time, grabbing Blaine’s arm to prevent Jim from moving him away from him. Jim got angry and tried to hit Sam on the head with his gun, but Sam was quicker this time and crouched enough to avoid the blow, before he took advantage of Jim’s confusion to throw a punch to his face, followed by another one to his middle that left him doubled over in pain. He was about to deliver another one when he saw Luke running towards him, his gun aiming directly at his head.

“Stop it right now, mister!” he yelled at Sam, as Blaine trembled in fear for his boyfriend. “You sit down right now” he ordered him and took Blaine’s arm, pulling roughly to get him moving.

“Don’t you dare touch him!” Sam yelled, completely out of himself with rage.

Sam was going to throw himself at Luke too, determined to stop his plans whatever it took, but Luke saw it coming and was not about to let Sam get away with it: he lifted his gun, cold blooded and confident, and fired.

 

_He felt as if he had received a big punch to his shoulder, followed by a searing pain and a lot of hotness in the area. At the same time a deep fog established on his mind, confusing him, preventing him from understanding what was happening. He felt as if time had slowed down, as people around him seemed to move in slow motion. Although he didn’t know why, he could feel blood slipping through a hole on his right shoulder and down his arm, forming a little blood puddle on the floor, as he couldn’t take his eyes away from the gruesome spectacle. When he tried to lift his hand he found out he had not strength in it at all to do it. He lifted his head confusedly and saw the frantic expression on his boyfriend’s face next to his, shouting some words he couldn’t even understand, as his strong and caring arms went around him in an attempt of keeping him standing. That’s when he realized his knees had buckled and he was slowly falling to the floor without him being able to do anything about it. His body didn’t feel as it belonged to him anymore, apart from the blinding pain. Only his boyfriend’s arms around him had kept him from hitting the floor, he knew it._

_When he found himself on the floor and his partner knelt at his side, everything fell into place and the fog in his mind allowed him to understand the situation: people started moving at normal speed again and he could finally make out Sam’s terrified words begging him to stay conscious. That’s how Blaine understood he had been shot._


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Funny how people mostly assume they're going to make it... Remember when I promised not to kill blam on my TWD fic? Well, I didn't make any promises in this one, did I? Just saying ;)

Sam had not seen it coming: he had been standing in front of the gun, waiting for Luke to fire at him, knowing that lunatic was not going to hesitate. But Blaine had moved in that exact moment: he had advanced towards the guy with the intention of fighting for the gun, or to push it away from his boyfriend, Sam didn’t know. The fact was the guy had felt threatened by Blaine and had moved his arm in his direction. And then he had shot without contemplation, just as he had done with the kid a while ago.

Sam couldn’t contain a cry of terror when he saw the impact of the bullet on Blaine’s body, as if an invisible force had hit him on his shoulder, but he didn’t fall right away nor even fall unconscious. Sam ran towards him, all the time yelling his name in absolute panic at seeing so much blood running down his immobile arm. He could see Blaine was not in his senses at the moment, so it was up to him to take care of the situation. Fortunately, nobody stopped his moves, as Luke was quite surprised himself by this turn of events. And Blaine was clearly not a menace for him anymore.

When Sam reached him, Blaine was already losing the last of his strength, so Sam put his arms around his boyfriend’s waist and gently and slowly lowered him to the ground, laying him flat on his back.

“Stay with me, love, please. Stay with me!” Sam repeated like a mantra next to Blaine’s ear, as if his voice could magically keep him alive with its insistence.

Then Sam took off his own shirt –so he was left with a once white, now blood-covered, T-Shirt– and used it to press on Blaine’s wound with all his might, trying to stop the horrifying hemorrhage that seemed to have no end. Blaine groaned loudly as pressure was added to his blindingly painful shoulder, and Sam yearned to have a free hand to caress him, to stroke his hair, to hold his hand, to be able to do anything to comfort him. But he needed both his hands for the extremely important task at hand that was stopping, or at least lessening, the massive bleeding. He would have to do with only his voice to soothe his beloved boyfriend.

“Easy, love. Do you hear me?” Sam pleaded.

Blaine didn’t seem to hear him, or to be able to make sense of his words, as the pain was so bad that he couldn’t think clearly. The only thing he was aware of was the throbbing on his shoulder and the fact that Sam’s pressing was making it worse. He lifted his left arm –his right arm had no strength at all due to the wound on his shoulder– and tried to move Sam’s hands to get them away from him.

“B, don’t, I know it hurts, but we have to stop the bleeding” Sam tried to sooth him.

Blaine still was not able to understand what he was being said, or chose to ignore it, and with an incredible strength considering the loss of blood he was suffering, he grabbed one of Sam’s wrists and moved it away from his shoulder. Sam felt shocked and desperate and the fact that Blaine –although involuntarily– was making it more difficult only angered him, so he freed his hand from Blaine’s grip and this time it was him who grabbed Blaine’s wrist instead to move it away from the injury.

“Don’t do that!” he yelled at Blaine, looking at Blaine with such a fierce gaze that Blaine could not ignore him anymore. The desperation on his boyfriend’s normally soothing voice made Blaine think harder until the fog from his mind cleared enough for him to understand that Sam was only helping, not making it worse, even if it hurt.

“I’m sorry” Blaine whispered pitifully to him, not taking his eyes off him.

Sam’s fury melted instantly and he deeply regretted his outburst. Blaine was only reacting to pain and fear and confusion, he didn’t need Sam’s anger of top of that. He crouched down, without losing the pressure of both his hands on the wound and kissed Blaine’s forehead.

“I’m the one who’s sorry, love” Sam said, as he pressed his forehead to Blaine’s.

“I’m okay” Blaine told him, wanting to reassure his boyfriend, as he knew how much of a worrier he was when it came to him and how bad he had to be fretting right now.

Sam chuckled in spite of himself, moved by Blaine’s worry about him and his need to comfort him even in a situation like that, and placed a quick peck on his lips before kneeling back.

“Of course you are” he answered as lovingly as he could as he again added some more pressure to the wound, making Blaine hiss in pain. “I’m sorry, love” Sam apologized honestly, feeling the need to make his boyfriend understand how bad he felt about causing him more pain. “I would never hurt you on purpose, you know that, don’t you?”

“Of course I know” Blaine mumbled as he bit his bottom lip until it bled trying to keep the pain at bay, but not succeeding, so he shut his eyes with force, trying to evade himself from a world that would cause him so much pain.

A good five minutes later Sam felt Blaine’s blood had stopped flowing between his fingers and he risked lifting the cloth a bit to take a look at the wound. There was only a very thin trail of blood coming out of it, Sam realized with a relieved sigh. He had to breathe deep a couple of times to avoid vomiting at seeing the hole in Blaine’s shoulder. Until then he hadn’t noticed about the smell, but now the metallic odor of the blood reached his nostrils with vengeance, contributing to his retching. But he couldn’t allow himself the luxury of being sick and feeling sorry for himself: his only concern was Blaine, so he rubbed his own hands on his pants to clean some of the blood off them and picked Blaine’s left hand, which was lying lifeless on the floor. He squeezed it strongly, while with his other hand he caressed Blaine’s rebel curls away from his forehead, to which Blaine opened his eyes, glazed and unfocused, and tried to fix his gaze on his boyfriend.

“It has stopped bleeding already, love” Sam told him tenderly. “You’re going to be fine”

“I told you” Blaine answered with a small smile, full of love and pain. Sam knew he was being too optimistic, and Blaine was far from being out of danger. But he didn’t care: he would say anything to make his lover feel better.

“You see what you are doing?” Sam heard Luke yelling over the window to the policemen outside. It was clear he was getting impatient, as the situation was going on much longer than he had originally planned. And that could only mean more danger.

“We are doing everything we can, it’s just too much money in so little time!” a voice from outside, presumably belonging to a cop, was heard.

“I don’t care about your problems! Now there’s one less hostage left, thanks to you! It’s not a casualty yet, but I don’t think he will last much longer”

Hearing the damn assassin who had shot Blaine talking about him like that, like he didn’t give a damn if Blaine lived or died, made Sam’s blood boil. But fortunately Blaine knew him like the back of his hand and he strengthened the grip on their joined hands to prevent him from moving towards Luke. Sam felt it and understood what Blaine meant, so he obeyed and stayed at Blaine’s side. After all, he needed him, and that was much more important than to satisfy his thirst for revenge.

“Would you let that wounded person receive medical attention?” the voice from outside yelled and, for a second, Sam’s heart cherished the hope that Blaine would be out of there and receiving medical help sooner than he had thought, even if he couldn’t go with him. But Luke was not going to give them that satisfaction.

“Are you kidding me? Be thankful I haven’t finished him off, as we had accorded!” Luke answered, and Sam hit his own thigh with his fist in frustration.

“We need more time!” the person outside begged.

“Okay, I understand it’s difficult, we asked for quite a lot of money. I’ll give you another full hour, okay? But at the end of it, if my car is not filled with my money and waiting for me at the door, I’ll kill two more hostages, okay?”

Sam didn’t know if that was good news: of course it meant nobody else was going to be shot or killed in the next hour. But it also meant more time until Blaine could be taken care of. He tried hard not to cry: now he had to be strong for his boyfriend at all costs, he owed him at least that after having taken that bullet that was meant for him. So he just smiled at Blaine and deposited another loving kiss on his forehead, making sure Blaine knew how much he loved him. But he refrained from making any promises he didn’t know if he would be able to keep.

**********

“Why the hell is taking so long?” the police officer asked to no one in particular, as he frustratingly paced the ground.

“They’re doing everything they can, sir” another policemen answered. “They have like half the money the burglars want, and the car is almost here. Maybe if we called them and tried to convince them that they take it or give us more time…”

“We’ll just wait until right before the next deadline, and if we still don’t have it, then we’ll call them again”

**********

Luke moved out from the window and turned around to assess the situation in the shop.

“Okay, you, move him out of the way and go back to the wall” he ordered Sam, who hadn’t moved an inch from where Blaine had fallen after being wounded.

“I can’t move him, his wound could reopen and start bleeding again” Sam pleaded for Luke to understand.

“What a case of bad luck that would be, wouldn’t it?” he answered, completely insensitively. “I said move!”

“But please…”

“You move him right now or I’ll end the problem for you” Luke threatened, dangerously moving his weapon around until it was directly pointed at Blaine’s head.

“Ok, ok, I’ll do it” Sam caved in, and then he turned to Blaine and caressed his cheek to catch his attention. “Sweetie, I have to move you. I’ll be as gentle as I can, okay?”

“I’ll help” Blaine immediately offered, even though he didn’t have the strength to even move a finger.

“No, no, you let me do the job for once, okay? We have to be very careful so as not to open the wound again” Sam pleaded, wanting to be sure no movement would cause further injury.

“Okay, as you wish” Blaine conceded without a fight, which worried Sam more than if he had tried to move on his own.

“Hey, don’t tell me that twice, I could get used to you giving up control of things” Sam joked, trying to distract Blaine as he put his hands under Blaine’s armpits and started dragging him towards the wall as gently as possible, trying not to look at the trail of blood they were leaving behind them. As careful as Sam was, Blaine was not able to stop a muffled moan escaping his throat at the movement, which felt like a knife to Sam’s heart at having to see the person he loved the most in the world suffer like that.

When Sam reached the wall, he left himself slip to the floor, bringing Blaine between his legs and letting him rest on his chest on his side, enveloping in a protective and comforting embrace that he hoped would give Blaine strength to endure the pain and the waiting until they could make it out of there.

**********

The awaiting was becoming increasingly difficult for Puck and Sebastian as time went by, as they knew time was not on their side and the lives of their friends were hanging by a thread.

“That was one of them” Sebastian said, all of a sudden, bringing Puck out of his stupor.

“What do you mean?” Puck asked him, confused.

“The one who has been wounded. It’s one of them”

“We don’t know that, could have been anybody” Puck tried to convince his roomate.

“Come on, Puck, what are the odds? Two people have been killed already” Sebastian explained, as they had been tricked to believe one more hostage had been killed right at the beginning, plus the boy. “If it wasn’t them, the most probable thing is that one of them has received the last bullet we heard. After all, they must hate Blaine for bringing the police, right? Why not kill him?”

“We know the second casualty wasn’t any of them. And well, even if one of them was wounded… at least he isn’t dead, is he? It’s still good news” Puck was trying to stay positive, although it was becoming harder and harder by the minute, especially seeing how his friend was falling into despair.

“But the robber said he wasn’t going to last long”

“And what, is he a doctor? Seb, we can’t lose hope, it’s all we have left” Puck insisted, to which Sebastian nodded, but Puck could see he had not convinced him at all.

**********

Sam couldn’t believe the endurance Blaine was showing: he could see the lines of pain in his face, the way he knitted his eyebrows and pressed his lips together every now and then to keep the pain at bay, and yet he refused to make the tinniest complain, for which Sam really admired him. He carefully squeezed him to his chest in an unconscious attempt of comfort and looked down at his face, admiring his beauty even in this situation.

“How are you faring, love?” he asked Blaine, as tenderly as he was able.

“I’m cold” Blaine answered in a thin voice, as he curled even closer to Sam, shivering, to try and share his body heat.

Of course he was cold, Sam thought, with the amount of blood he had lost. Sam felt a slash of pain in his heart about being unable to solve even something as small as that, so he rubbed Blaine’s arm in an attempt to warm him up.

“I don’t have anything to cover you with, sweetie, I’m so sorry” he lamented, resting his head on top of Blaine’s.

“Here, you can use this” the woman who had been comforted by Blaine earlier kindly offered her shawl to Sam. It was not very thick, but it would help some.

“But…” Sam hesitated, moved by the woman’s kindness. “It’s going to get all soaked on… It’s going to get stained”

“It’s only a piece of clothing. Take it, he needs it more than I do” the woman insisted, helping Sam cover Blaine’s shoulders with it.

“Thank you so much, madam” Sam told her honestly.

“Please… he tried to help me and the boy, the least I can do is help him with that”

Sam smiled at her as he continued rubbing on Blaine’s arm, this time over the fabric of the shawl that had been spread over the upper half of his body.

“Are you feeling better, babe?” Sam asked his lover, noticing the shivering had diminished a little.

“Yes, thanks” Blaine answered with a small voice. “Don’t worry about me, honey” Blaine told him lovingly, lifting a hand to caress Sam’s cheek, almost making him break the promise he had made to himself to hold back the tears and stay strong for him with his tender actions.

“I’m not worrying about you, you fool, don’t be so egocentric” Sam joked, eliciting a small smile from his partner.

“Good” he answered, as he tiredly rested his head on Sam’s chest again, too exhausted to say anything else.

Still another half hour to go.


	7. Chapter 7

Time kept unstoppably running and Sam was appalled to see how Blaine’s strength seemed to be diminishing by the minute. Even though he claimed to be very cold, he wasn’t even shivering anymore, and keeping his eyes open was becoming an arduous task for the injured boy. He was still sitting between Sam’s legs, so he could rest his side on Sam’s chest and Sam could hold him upright and, at the same time, comfort him as much as possible. But not even Sam’s strong and loving arms could make much of a difference anymore.

“No, babe, please, don’t fall asleep, stay with me” Sam gently shook him when he saw Blaine’s eyelids falling, terrified that if he let Blaine close his eyes, they would never open again.

“Ok” Blaine whispered in response, making a tremendous effort to stay awake for his boyfriend. Even though the only thing he felt like doing was closing his eyes and isolating himself from that cold and painful hell, he felt selfish about leaving his boyfriend alone in it, so he resisted as much as he could.

“Why don’t you explain to me why you said yesterday that your week had been that terrible, eh?” Sam told him, trying to keep him talking, his hand half holding, half caressing Blaine’s forehead. “You never told me”

“That’s easy” Blaine said, slightly smiling. “Because you weren’t there”

Sam sighed, trying to stop the tears threatening to appear: he was having enough trouble not to burst out crying from despair without his wounded partner getting all sentimental on him. Sam rested his lips on Blaine’s temple in a long kiss meant to show Blaine how much he loved him. That’s how he noticed how much Blaine was burning up with fever, and that could only mean one thing: infection. After all, there was no exit wound, so the bullet was still inside of him. But Sam chose not to say anything about it, not wanting to alarm Blaine now that he seemed calm enough.

“I thought you told me you hadn’t missed me that much” Sam told him, softly and jokingly.

“I thought you knew me better than that” Blaine joked back, resting his uninjured hand over Sam’s heart, in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture, and Sam rested his over Blaine’s.

“If it helps, I missed you like crazy too” Sam told him, while caressing his hair with his other hand.

“This is not the reunion I had been expecting, though” Blaine joked, and Sam had to laugh at Blaine’s black humor, grateful that he was trying to make light of the situation on his behalf.

“And what kind of reunion were you expecting, you little evil?” Sam asked, trying to keep the light atmosphere, but Blaine wasn’t able to answer anymore: a new wave of pain invaded his shoulder, and he could only gasp before his breathing started speeding up. Sam immediately understood what was happening and offered his hand to Blaine, letting him squeeze it as hard as he needed. Sam could only begin to imagine how much Blaine was hurting by the strength on his grip on Sam’s hand and in the way his body trembled involuntarily as he tried to control the blinding pain.

When Blaine’s breathing started returning to normal and his hand lost the grip on his boyfriend’s, Sam understood the pain had lessened a little, and he hurried to show him his support with a long kiss to his cheek. That’s when he noticed the wetness on Blaine’s cheeks, how a couple of involuntary tears had escaped the corners of his eyes at the terrible pain.

“Oh, love, I’m so sorry you’re hurting so much, if there was anything I could do to help it...” Sam told him, genuinely sorry, as he would gladly exchange places with him so he didn’t have to experience the pain.

“Don’t worry, honey, I’m okay” Blaine told him in a very thin voice, wanting to stay strong for Sam, but he had to hide his face on the blond’s neck to try and muffle the sobs he felt were coming, without him being able to stop them, so exhausted and sore and worried about their situation he was.

“Schhht” Sam shushed him, comfortingly, holding his head lovingly and embracing him strongly, not trying to stop his crying because he knew he needed it.

“I’m sorry” Blaine apologized, his breath nuzzling Sam’s neck.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, love” Sam wanted to reassure him.

“I want to stay strong” Blaine insisted, as sobs continued shaking his body.

“You’re the strongest person I know, B. Look what you’re enduring, you’re in a terrible pain and you haven’t even complained once. Breaking down just means you’ve been holding on for too long. Believe me, you’re totally entitled to lean on me as much as you need to. I’m here for you”

“I love you” was the only thing Blaine could say, his strength leaving him, but there was so much more implied in his words. He wanted to tell Sam how grateful he was, how he admired him for his strength, how proud he was of him, how he was aware Sam was feeling Blaine’s pain as if it was his own and yet he still managed to stay strong... He hoped Sam would understand, Blaine thought, as his sobs lessened because of exhaustion and his head once again fell on Sam’s chest.

Sam squeezed him carefully and once again kissed his forehead, all the while caressing the hair on the side of his head.

“I love you too, babe” he answered in a whisper, looking at his lover’s face and noticing how little strength there was left in him. “Don’t fall asleep, sweetie, please”

“Ok” Blaine answered, resolute to please his boyfriend in anything he could. That was the only thing he could do for him.

**********

There were no words between Sebastian and Puck anymore. It seemed there was nothing else to say anymore; they could only wait. And get desperate with each passing minute..

“There’s no way they are both going to get out of there” Sebastian mumbled to himself after a while, but Puck heard him alright.

“Why do you say that?” he asked him, kind of reproaching at his friend’s lack of positivism.

“Five minutes from now they are going to kill two more hostages. And the one who was wounded could very well be dead now. That leaves what, three hostages? What are the odds that both of them would make it, after we know they were the ones to frustrate their escape?”

“But we don’t know anything! Those hostages haven’t been killed yet, nor we know about the wounded one. Why do you have to keep torturing yourself like this?”

“Because this is all my fault” Sebastian answered in a guilty whisper.

“What? How can any of this be your fault?” Puck asked, astounded at Sebastian’s feelings.

“If I hadn’t been so grumpy this morning we wouldn’t have argued, and then Blaine wouldn’t have felt obliged to go and get the charcoal, and he and Sam wouldn’t be in all this mess” Sebastian explained, not able to contain his tears any longer.

Puck stood thunderstruck at Sebastian’s revelation for a second, but then didn’t lose any time in putting a hand to his shoulder to squeeze it, trying to comfort him.

“That’s ridiculous, Seb. How were you to know what was going to happen?”

“The fact I didn’t know doesn’t make it less true that they wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my sour mood”

“Then it’s even more my fault than yours, isn’t it?” Puck asked him trying to make a point.

“Why?” Sebastian asked back, not understanding.

“It was me who didn’t buy the charcoal, wasn’t it?”

“Still there was no need for me to get so cranky”

“Seb, this is not your fault, or mine, or Blaine and Sam’s… There’s only two people to blame, and they are the ones who are holding them hostages. No one else”

Sebastian nodded at him, though Puck could see he had not really convinced him, and he wouldn’t stop blaming himself until both Sam and Blaine were free and safe. If that was possible.

Then they heard the officer in charge telling the others he was going to give the robbers a call before the deadline expired, to tell them they had half of the money they had asked and could have the car whenever they wanted. They hoped the robbers would think it was enough.

**********

The sound of the shop phone ringing took Sam’s attention away from Blaine for a second. He closed his eyes and desired with all his forces it was the police telling them they had everything they had asked and everything would be over. But somehow he felt they were not going to be so lucky.

“So do you have it?” Luke asked abruptly the instant he picked up the phone. “...Half of it? No way, that’s not what we requested... ...I don’t care if it’s still a lot of money, I made the terms of our agreement very clear, didn’t I?... ... No, don’t even bother about the car until it’s full of money, and you have one last hour to do that or I will kill everyone... But just so you can see I appreciate the effort you’re all making, I’ll give you half of what we agreed too. I will just kill one hostage this time”

**********

“No, please!” the officer screamed, desperately.

Sebastian and Puck felt as if an invisible hand was gripping their hearts, making them hurt and stopping them from breathing. They knew what was about to happen, and they couldn’t take it anymore.

**********

Sam had heard Luke’s part of the telephonic conversation and now he could see him quickly approaching the hostages, aiming with his gun at them, with the intention of killing one of them. Sam couldn’t figure out who would be the next victim, so he covered Blaine’s head with his hand and squeezed him hard to his chest, covering him with his own body as much as he could, trying to protect him as much as possible without moving him, not wanting to risk another hemorrhage. Then Sam closed his eyes with force, not wanting to be a witness of what was going to happen, but he couldn’t shut his ears to the sound of that damned gun firing once again, or to the shout of a very frightened woman, or the grunt of a person breathing his last breath. That’s when Sam finally opened his eyes and could see the lifeless body of the teller lying just a few feet from him.

He couldn’t believe he had seen two people die in front of him just like that, and his boyfriend could very well suffer the same fate as them. No, he couldn’t think like that: Blaine would make it, he would make sure of that. There was no alternative, he had to survive because Sam couldn’t live without him. It was as simple as that.

He lowered his gaze to check how Blaine’s emotions were dealing with that new murder, and that’s when he realized Blaine’s eyes were closed and his face had fallen to the side, unconscious at last. Sam cupped his chin to turn his face to him and gently shook it.

“B, B, please, wake up, babe” he gently slapped his face with his other hand to bring him around, but he wasn’t rewarded. “Come on, don’t do this to me, love, please, open your eyes” Sam pleaded, finally letting the tears fall in desperation as he squeezed Blaine’s unconscious body closer to him and he rested his cheek on top of Blaine’s head, starting to sob uncontrollably.

**********

With the sound of the last shot still ringing in their ears, Puck and Sebastian just embraced each other and cried.


	8. Chapter 8

The minutes passed inevitably and the tension on the little supermarket kept growing. Seeing as how their demands were not being met as quickly as they expected, the robbers were getting nervous, wanting for everything to end almost as much as the hostages left. Luke just kept looking outside through the window, but Jim couldn’t stay still, changing positions constantly from where he was sitting.

Sam was in stupor, not seeming to be very aware or to care about his surroundings anymore beyond the warm body laying in his arms, as he caressed Blaine’s head lovingly over and over again, lost in their own world. He looked down at Blaine’s fever-flushed face, and couldn’t help but notice how his cheek and eye were now completely bruised from the blow he had received earlier from Luke, slightly marring his beautiful features. It seemed so insignificant now... Sam brought his face closer to Blaine to kiss his forehead and that’s when he noticed how Blaine’s breathing seemed to be getting more difficult, how it was getting faster and shallower, and the grip that had been squeezing Sam’s heart for hours became so strong that he was finding it hard to breath himself.

Sam felt like breaking down again; he felt as he couldn’t keep holding on, as if there was no strength left in him to fight. As he had told Blaine a while ago, there was a moment when you couldn’t hold on any longer. Blaine. That was the difference, that was his reason to keep fighting, his source of strength. He knew Blaine’s was his anchor to reality right now, the only thing that kept him from falling into despair, because Blaine needed him to survive, and Sam had always been there for him and was not about to change that now.

“He’s worse, isn’t he?” the woman next to Sam asked him.

“Yes, he keeps getting worse. He can’t even breathe properly now” Sam answered, his heart tightening a bit more with having to put his biggest fears into words.

“You have to get him out of here. He won’t last another hour” the woman told him honestly.

“How?” It was the only thing he was able to say.

“Through the emergency door at the back. It’s your only chance”

“They won’t let us. You saw what happened to the kid”

“They may not notice for a while if you’re really careful. That Luke guy hasn’t even moved from that window for a good while, he won’t see you”

Sam weighed up the woman’s words and knew she was right: it was the only chance they had, as Blaine wouldn’t last much longer without medical attention. The back door was a good option, but dangerous. On one hand, the boy had been killed instantly while trying to reach it some hours ago. But on the other hand, the robbers were more tired and impatient now, and were not keeping vigilance as good as they should over their hostages. Like the woman had said, Luke hadn’t even moved from the window for a long time, and Jim just sat on the floor, his face hidden behind his hands. It was now or never. Blaine deserved for him to take the risk.

Sam took the shawl off from around Blaine, not wanting for it to fall or to get caught on something on their run, and returned it to the woman, who took it with a smile.

“Thank you. For everything” Sam told her sincerely, grabbing her hand for a second and squeezing it.

“Just... take good care of him, okay? He seems... special”

“He is” Sam answered with a little, proud smile.

“You both are good people. Now go”

With a last squeeze to the woman’s hand, Sam carefully sat Blaine up so he could extricate himself from underneath him, and held him up with his hands as he kneeled up to go.

“We are going, sweetie” he whispered to his unconscious boyfriend, accompanying his words with a kiss to Blaine’s forehead. “You are going to be alright”

“You’re going somewhere?” Jim asked him, having appeared in front of him out of nowhere.

Sam cursed at himself for having been so self-absorbed that he hadn’t kept an eye on his surroundings. He threw a look at Luke before answering and noticed he had not heard Jim.

“Please, you’ve got to help me” Sam didn’t even try to make up an excuse, so desperate he was. He didn’t care if he sounded like begging; he had realized Jim was not as blood-thirsty and lunatic as Luke –he even had seemed sorry about the murders at the hands of his partner–, so he was planning on taking advantage of that.

“Are you serious? You want me to help you?” Jim asked him with an incredulous and ironic smile.

“Yes, please” Sam desperately pleaded. “I know you’re a good person, I can tell. You don’t want any deaths on your conscience. Please, let me take him out of here”

“You just have to wait a little bit longer and everything will be over” Jim tried to reason with him, not wanting to risk Luke realizing what was going on and getting him angry at him.

“I can’t wait anymore. He can’t wait” he explained, pointing with his head at his boyfriend, whose breathing was becoming more difficult by the minute. “He needs a doctor, and he needs it now” Sam could see he was breaking through the man’s compassion, so he kept on with his persuading. “Look, I know what your friend has done, but you haven’t shot anyone yet. I’ll make sure to testify that on court, we’ll all do, and you’ll get it easier. But please, let us out. He’s dying in my arms, can’t you see it?” The desperation on Sam’s voice was so painful and evident that seemed to stir something in the man’s heart. “I can’t lose him”

“Ok, I’ll let you go” Jim conceded with a sigh, finally, and Sam felt like crying in relief. “But don’t expect me to help you if Luke finds out. You’re on your own”

Sam looked at the other hostages, his heart filled with remorse.

“What about the others?” he asked.

“It’s only going to be you. Take it or leave it”

Sam hesitated for a second, looking at the other hostages and feeling guilty about leaving them behind, until the woman who had lent them the shawl spoke.

“Don’t worry about us, just go”

“But...” Sam hesitated.

“He saved you. Now it’s him who needs you to save him. Don’t fail him”

The woman obviously had seen enough of them to know what to say to get Sam moving, she knew that Sam would be convinced to move by making him see how much Blaine needed him right now. Sam’s eyes filled with tears and he nodded gratefully at her. He hoped they would be able to make it too.

“Thank you” he told them, and with that he got up and put an arm underneath Blaine’s back and another one under his knees and lifted him as silently as possible, careful not to jostle him too much and reopen the wound, terrified that if he started bleeding again he wouldn’t make it.

Jim decided to help in the last second; if it was out of pity for them or in fear of being discovered helping them, Sam didn’t know. But he didn’t really care, and took advantage of the situation to start walking towards the back door as Jim suddenly ran to the window Luke was standing by, gun ready to shoot.

“Luke, what the hell is happening outside!” he yelled, feigning having seen some strange movement amongst the policemen outside, so as to keep Luke’s attention away from what was happening in the shop.

“What?” Luke asked, confused, looking outside to look for the source of Jim’s outburst.

“I thought there were some strange moves, maybe like they were getting ready to come in” Jim lied, as he pretended to be worried about it, and talking a bit louder than necessary –which added to his pretence of being nervous– to cover any possible sounds coming from the running couple. “Let’s just watch out”

Sam felt a bit more secure about them being covered by the shelves on the last aisle of the supermarket that led to the emergency exit at the back through which Sam hoped they would be able to make their escape, though he knew it was absurd. Even if Luke couldn’t see them from his position, he just had to look at the hostages to realize they weren’t there anymore, and he would surely be faster than him, who had to carry Blaine’s dead weight, and be there in a second to end with both their lives. And any careless sound would surely attract his attention too. No, Sam realized, they weren’t out of danger by any means yet, and it was in his hands –and only in his hands– to put a successful resolution to their escape attempt. His life and, more importantly, Blaine’s depended on it.

When he reached the back door, he immediately tried to open the door handle with the hand supporting Blaine’s legs, his left hand, but the door was heavily stuck from lack of use and he was unable to even move it. He sighed a little too loudly and tried with his right hand, but it was impossible for him to maneuver having Blaine’s body to support. Even though Blaine was not very heavy thanks to his small size, he still was a dead weight and Sam was getting desperate between his need to open the damn door before Luke found out about them and his fear of letting Blaine fall and hurting him even further.

Eyes filling up with desperate tears, he tried unsuccessfully once more and then decided to change tactics: very carefully he deposited Blaine on the floor, trying to ignore the fact Blaine’s body showed almost no signs of life –only his shallow breathing and his high temperature– with the intention of freeing his hands to be able to manipulate the door handle.

He tried to turn the handle with both his hands, afraid the door may be locked. But then he remembered it was an emergency exit, so it had to be possible to open it from the inside. It was just stuck, so he sighed, trying to encourage himself, and then he hit the door with his shoulder at the same time he turned the door handle, in an attempt of forcing it open, though he was not successful.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he heard Jim yell, and for a terrifying second he thought he was addressing him. But when none of the robbers appeared down the aisle, he understood Jim was just helping, trying to keep Luke of finding out about his escape by yelling to the cops outside through the window. “We are not waiting here forever, you know!” he continued, and he even shot once to the air to give more credibility to his act.

Sam heard Luke starting to yell at the cops outside too, and a voice from outside trying to calm them down over the entire racket, and he couldn’t be more grateful for the distraction, so he could even make a little noise and it wouldn’t be heard. Once again he threw himself at the door and this time it moved slightly, so he repeated the procedure a couple of times and finally it gave away.

Sam had to make a great effort not to give a relieved cry when the door finally opened. As silently as possible he forced the door as widely as it would open and then very carefully picked Blaine’s unconscious body from the floor again and before he was even aware of it, they were outside the shop. At last.

Sam closed the door again, soundlessly, still hearing Jim and Luke’s shouts, and started walking hurriedly away from the shop from the other side, Blaine’s body carefully held in his arms, and towards where a big mass of cops and morbid spectators were waiting, still unaware of their escape.

“We did it, babe” he whispered lovingly at Blaine, whose head bumped lifeless on his shoulder at every step he made, even though he knew he could not hear him. “My love, we made it out of there”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're safe now, yaaaaay!!! Or aren't they? ;)


	9. Chapter 9

As Sebastian and Puck stood listening to the threads of the two robbers, who inexplicably had started shouting and shooting through the window all of a sudden, a movement out of the corner of his eye caught Sebastian’s attention, and he turned his head to it to check what it was. His eyes opened widely, much to Puck’s surprise, and he had to open and shut his mouth a couple of times before any word came out.

“There comes Sam!” Sebastian yelled, pointing at Sam’s approaching figure, causing for Puck to follow his gaze and getting more or less the same reaction than his roomate.

“Don’t shoot!” Puck asked the policemen. “That’s one of our friends!”

“What is he carrying?” Sebastian asked, still not able to recognize Blaine’s form on Sam’s arms because of the distance at first sight. But only a second and more careful look was enough to stop his heart. “Oh my God, it’s Blaine! Puck, it’s Blaine!”

“You think he is...?” Puck didn’t have the courage to end the sentence.

“Sam!” Sebastian yelled to alert him of their presence.

Sam heard him and the moment he recognized him he started running towards them as fast as he could with the precious burden he was carrying in his arms.

Sebastian couldn’t stand the tension of the waiting, and started running to meet them halfway, even when a policeman tried to stop him because he would become uncovered to any possible bullet the robbers could decide to shoot.

“Sam” Sebastian greeted him when he reached them, while he was already putting his arms under Blaine’s back and knees too to share his weight with his friend. “Let me help you”

Very slowly and carefully both men deposited Blaine on the floor, each of them kneeling at one of the injured boy’s sides, once they were behind the police cards, safe and out of reach of any stray bullet. That’s when Sebastian was able to take the first real look at Blaine and he felt tears filling his eyes when he saw all the blood, the paleness of his skin, the stillness of his body. There didn’t seem to be any life in him.

“Sam, is he...?” he tried to ask, with a fear in his heart he had never felt before and that kept him from finishing the question.

“No, he’s not” Sam answered curtly, as if it angered him that someone would doubt Blaine’s endurance. “We need some help here!” he yelled at the top of his voice for the paramedics to come, although they were already on their way.

Sebastian gently pressed a couple of fingers to Blaine’s neck to look for a pulse, still not sure if Sam was right or he was just denying the horrible truth. Blaine was so pale... But after a couple of seconds he found it: erratic, weak, but there it was. And it was then when he noticed Blaine, although slightly, was still breathing. The relief Sebastian felt made his legs shook, and he was grateful he was kneeling on the floor or he knew he would have fallen.

Sam, his arms freed of his burden at last, crouched over Blaine to kiss his forehead, as he grabbed his hand again in a strong grip that he felt would keep them linked.

“Look, my love. You’re getting help at last. You’re going to be fine” he whispered in Blaine’s ear tenderly as the paramedics reached them.

“Ok, everybody move out, please” one of them ordered, and Sebastian immediately stood up and joined Puck, standing behind Sam. Sam, though, didn’t move, and kept whispering reassuring words to Blaine’s ear as if he was in a trance, not caring if everyone but the person who the words were directed at was hearing them.

“Sir, you have to give us room to work” the young woman who seemed to be the doctor in charge asked him politely.

“No, I can’t leave him” Sam answered, without taking his eyes off from Blaine’s face.

“Sir” the girl insisted, putting her hand on Sam’s shoulder to catch his attention. “You need to let us take care of him”

As much as the paramedics and both Puck and Sebastian tried to move Sam, it was impossible to make the young man let go of his boyfriend’s hand, as he knelt at his side trying to transfer his energies to him. They didn’t know what they had come through together, Sam thought, they didn’t know how they’d manage to survive because they both had been there for each other. They didn’t know what it felt to have the person you love the most in the world practically dead in your arms and then being asked to get out of the way for somebody else to save him. He was not ready to lose the contact with his loved one yet, and doubted he would ever be. He shrugged off all the hands trying to pull him away and concentrated on tenderly playing with the hair falling on Blaine’s forehead.

“Sam, you have to let them do their job” Puck tried to persuade him, squeezing both his shoulders even if he completely understood that the trauma of the situation was having a big effect on Sam’s reasoning.

“We’ve survived together, I can’t leave him now” Sam mumbled stubbornly, his voice breaking with pain and desperation, trying to make the doctor in front of him understand how important it was for him not to lose the grip on Blaine’s hand.

“Yes, you got him out of there” the girl answered, patiently. “You saved him. Now you have to save him again by letting us take care of him. I promise we’ll look after him as good as you did”

“But I want to go with him when you take him to the hospital” he tried to bargain as he began to cave in, finally understanding that was the best way to help his boyfriend even if he didn’t like it.

“Of course” the young woman promised, and finally Sam let himself be moved by Sebastian and Puck, though just a couple of steps away from Blaine’s unmoving body, and let room for the doctor and nurse to work.

“Besides we have to check you too” the male nurse informed him as he started taking all they would need from a bag, as the doctor started mentally cataloguing Blaine’s injuries.

“Me? No, I’m okay, just concentrate on him, please” Sam dismissed him, not wanting them to lose a precious second with him when they could dedicate it to saving his boyfriend’s life.

“But Sam, you’re covered in blood” Sebastian told him as tactfully as he could.

Sam looked down at himself, realizing for the first time how bloody and scary-looking his clothes were. Suddenly he felt nauseous and very very tired.

“This is not mine...” he explained, making the others shiver at how much blood Blaine had lost to cover both his clothes and Sam’s that way. “I’m not hurt. Blaine took my bullet”

Sebastian and Puck just looked at each other, not really understanding what he meant with that, though they could clearly see that Sam was very affected by the whole ordeal, so they closed around him, trying to show him his support. Sam, though, moved a bit forwards with the excuse of looking at how they were taking care Blaine. The truth, however, was that he was not yet ready to be comforted: he still had Blaine to take care of –even if it was the paramedics now making the most obvious job–, and the role of the victim who needed to be consoled was not his to take yet.

“He seems to be having problems with his breathing, so we are going to put an oxygen mask over his face, okay? I know it looks scary, but it isn’t, it’s just a little help to make him comfortable, okay?” the doctor explained over his shoulder to Sam.

“Ok, whatever he needs” Sam nodded vigorously, not caring how scary the image of healing Blaine would get as long as he would be okay.

“There’s nothing else we can do for him here. He needs to be operated immediately in order to extract the bullet. He seems stable enough for us to move him, so we’ll go immediately”

“He’s got a deep cut on his forehead” he told the paramedics as they lifted the stretcher to extract the wheels from underneath it. “Quite deep and it bled profusely. Take care of it too, please”

“Don’t worry, we’ll give him a complete check-out once we get to the hospital”

It would be a difficult image for them three to forget, Blaine being carried away on a stretcher, deathly still, covered in blood, white as a ghost, with a mask oxygen helping him breathe. Healthy and vigorous Blaine. Completely-unable-to-be-still Blaine. It was as if it was not him at all, Sam thought as he followed the paramedics, Sebastian and Puck close at his heels.

Just as they were reaching the ambulance, they heard Luke’s voice again, but this time it sounded different: so much angrier, more desperate. He must have just realized about Sam and Blaine’s absence. And it wasn’t going to be good news.

“You think you’re all so clever, don’t you?” he reproached the cops outside, still not understanding how the prisoners, one of them being deadly hurt, had made an escape. “Your time is over! You may have not kept your promise, but I will keep mine! I’m killing every one of them!”

“Get ready to enter!” the police in charge ordered his officers, knowing there was nothing else they could do anymore. When he gave the order, a bunch of cops finally entered the shop and a real battle broke out.

When Blaine’s stretcher had already being lifted into the ambulance and Sam jumped in it to accompany his boyfriend, a burst of shots was heard, accompanied by some yells and knocks, and then there was silence.

As the door to the ambulance was closed, Sam picked Blaine’s hand again and brought it to his lips to kiss it, closing his eyes in anguish at the hostage’s fate and their own still critic situation, as a solitary tear made his way down his cheek.

“We made it out of there, love” he whispered once again.

**********

When the ambulance made it to the hospital, Sam ran with the stretcher all along the corridor that was leading Blaine towards an operating room, where the bullet would be extracted and he would be taken care of properly, as he had been denied for hours.

Sam hadn’t let go of Blaine’s hand since they got into the ambulance, and knew that in just a few more steps he would be forced to separate from his boyfriend, not knowing if he would ever see him alive again. He was not sure if he was going to be able to let him out of his sight, his need to protect him was still so strong after having had him hurting in his arms for so long.

So he thought it was good when he heard Sebastian and Puck appear at the end of the corridor, behind them. How they had made it to the hospital almost as fast as the ambulance, he didn’t know, but didn’t really care. The important thing was they were there.

“Sir, you can’t come any further” the doctor from the ambulance told him carefully, knowing how fierce Sam was in his guarding of his boyfriend.

But he had finally understood that there was nothing else he could for Blaine and it was up to the doctors’ hands to keep him alive now. So he crouched down to kiss Blaine’s lips one last time, as he let go of his hand and let it rest on his chest.

“You hold on, you hear me?” he whispered close to Blaine’s face. “I need you. I can’t do this without you”

“We’ll do everything we can” the girl promised, squeezing Sam’s arm, and then they were gone.

When they took Blaine’s stretcher away, suddenly Sam felt very lost, and so tired... Puck, who had already reached him, took pity on him and came to embrace him. At first it seemed as if Sam was going to refuse the contact, not ready to be comforted yet, but then he realized Blaine was not at his side to be strong for anymore and he fell on Puck’s arms. He could only cling to him as sobs made his body shake violently, the tension and the pain from the last hours having taken grip of his heart and not seeming to want to let it go. Finally Sam’s knees buckled, emotionally and physically spent, and Puck could not hold him, so they both ended kneeling on the floor, as Sebastian came behind Sam and enveloped him with his arms too.

“He’ll be alright, Sam. You know how strong he is” Sebastian whispered in his ear, trying to keep his own tears out of his voice. Sam, though, was inconsolable.


	10. Chapter 10

Sam cried until there were no more tears left in him and finally, after a while, he let Puck and Sebastian lift him from the floor and guide him to the waiting room, where he sat on a chair, with his friends on each side of him, and hid his face behind his hands.

“I’m sorry, guys. I don’t know what came over me” he apologized, slightly embarrassed about his breakdown in the middle of a crowded hospital.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Sam” Puck told him, as he put his arm around shoulders. “What I don’t know is how you were able to hold on for so long”

“There was no other option” Sam answered, because it was as simple as that to him.

“Well now you have us, you know that, don’t you?” Sebastian answered kindly. “You don’t have to be strong anymore”

Sam sighed deeply and then smiled at each one of them.

“I know, boys, I appreciate so much that you’re here”

“Of course we are here! You and Blaine are our best friends” Sebastian responded, as if it was absurd to think there was someone else he would rather be at the moment.

“And how did you come here so fast, by the way?” Sam asked, trying to keep his mind occupied with light conversation.

“Well, a police car brought us here when... when everything was over” Puck answered, not realizing how much he had given away until it was too late.

“Did someone else...?” Sam asked, not been able of finding the words to ask for the other hostages.

Puck, though, didn’t need them and perfectly understood what he meant. He only shook his head in negation as an answer, and Sam felt grateful there were no more tears left in him.

“But don’t think about that now” Puck told him softly. “Let’s just concentrate on getting Blaine better, ok?”

“Of course” Sam nodded in agreement.

“And we should get you cleaned up and changed, shouldn’t we? You just can’t keep walking around... on these clothes” Puck explained, not wanting to say “covered in blood”, although they all knew what he meant.

“I can’t go, I have to be here”

“Do you want me to go to your home and bring you some clothes?” Sebastian immediately offered, anxious to help in any possible way.

“Do you mind?” Sam answered in a pleading tone, even if the thought hadn’t even crossed his mind until Sebastian mentioned it. “You could bring some pajamas for Blaine too”

“Of course. I’ll grab some clothes for you and anything I can think Blaine might need and I’ll be as quick as I can” Sebastian promised.

“Thanks, Seb” Sam honestly told him.

“Nonsense. If they come out before I’m back... Give a little kiss to Blaine on my behalf, okay?” Sebastian told Sam in a shaky voice, and the blond could easily see he was not the only one dying to know Blaine would make it.

“I will” Sam promised with a smile, feeling glad for the friends he had and the fact that he didn’t have to go through all that alone.

**********

As Sam and Puck waited for news on Blaine state, few words were exchanged between them, both of them engrossed on their own thoughts. Sam knew Puck wanted and deserved to know everything about the robbery, about everything that had happened inside that little supermarket, but he didn’t feel like talking about it yet. Not until he knew Blaine was going to be alright and he could put the whole ordeal really behind him, as he felt that it was still not really over.

Puck, on his part, had not asked about anything, not wanting to pressure Sam when he was still so obviously affected. The important thing now was Blaine anyway, not getting to know all the little and morbid details of what they had been pulled through. Everything else could wait.

Only half an hour later, Sebastian came back with a couple of changes of clothes and a toothbrush for Sam, and pajamas, clothes and everything he had thought could be useful for Blaine. Sam thanked him from the bottom of his heart and the three of them resumed their wordless waiting.

More than two hours later, a doctor in operating clothes appeared at the door, asking for any relatives of Blaine Anderson.

“I’m his partner” Sam was quick to answer, as he jumped from his seat, his heart on his throat at what he was about to hear.

“Glad to meet you, mister...” the doctor shook Sam’s hand, waiting for a name.

“Evans”

“Ok, Mr. Evans. I’m Dr. Reynolds. Before we go into any details, let me tell you the operation was a total success”

Sam let out a shaky sigh, and felt both Sebastian and Puck’s hands squeezing his shoulders before the slightest of smiles found its way into his lips.

“We extracted the bullet from his shoulder without any shards remaining behind. The bullet did not affect any vital organs, but it damaged some ligaments that are going to be very painful and that could have an effect on the strength or the movement of his arm”

“He’s a musician at heart. Will he be able to play his piano?”

“We cannot know that for now, but let’s not focus on that. It might only be temporary, and with the correct rehabilitation it could completely heal with time”

“Let’s not worry about that now, Sam” Sebastian implored, once again squeezing Sam’s shoulder in what he hoped was a reassuring way.

“You’re right” Sam surrendered. Blaine was alive and he was going to heal, and that was the only thing that mattered. Everything else they would deal with when they had to. “He’s the most stubborn little cuss, of course he will heal”

“That’s the spirit” The doctor praised him with a fond smile, as it was easy to see how much that young man loved his partner.

“So the operation went fine? Is he going to be alright, then?” Sam asked hopefully, not really daring to believe how good everything had turned at the end after so much suffering.

“Well, let me finish. The injury itself wouldn’t have been too serious if treated immediately, but all the waiting didn’t help in the least. He had an infection going, and we removed all the affected tissue we could. Normally that would be enough but Blaine is extremely weak due to the severe blood loss he suffered, so it is possible that the infection will appear again. We had to give him a blood transfusion”

“And what if that happens?” Sam asked, his voice not more than a thread when he realized he might have declared victory too soon.

“We’ll cross that bridge when and if we get to it, okay?” the doctor explained, trying to calm him down. “It doesn’t have to happen, don’t worry excessively about it”

“Ok” Sam said, not sounding very convinced.

“Another thing. The reason he was having problems with his breathing had nothing to do with the shot. He had a couple of broken ribs. Do you know how that happened?”

“I guess it was when one of them kicked his side” Sam answered, taking a deep breath to placate his sudden killing urges at the reminder of how his lover had been abused at the hand of those monsters.

“That could surely be it. Well, one of the broken ribs punctured a lung, so it collapsed. This is very painful and uncomfortable, but it’s not extremely serious as long as he takes a lot of rest and we keep providing him oxygen until the lung gets recovered enough to work for itself. That’s why we are going to keep him sedated for at least 24 hours, so don’t worry at all when he doesn’t wake up today”

Sam felt this very hard to take, as he was dying to talk to him, to see all the love Blaine professed him in his beautiful golden eyes, to try and gain one of his sweet smiles from him... But anything to make him better, of course, and if they could keep him from the pain he would surely be feeling because of his injuries for a while, all the better for him, Sam guessed.

“Can I see him?” Sam asked him, almost imploring.

“Of course, he’s in the recovery room right now, just to keep his vital signs checked after the intervention and anesthesia, but you can go to the room he has been assigned to and wait for him there. The nurse at the entrance will tell you which room it is. If nothing changes overnight, and I’m sure it won’t, I’ll see you tomorrow, when I go to check on him, okay?” the doctor explained kindly, as he offered his hand for Sam to shake.

“Thank you so much, doctor” Sam answered, shaking the doctor’s hand firmly.

**********

Half an hour later, the three friends were getting impatient, waiting for Blaine to arrive. Sam had had time to take a quick shower and change into clean –and bloodless clothes– at last, and he felt renewed without that horrible reminder of Blaine’s pain all over him. He didn’t even want to see those clothes again, and had thrown them into the nearest bin without any contemplation.

“What the hell is taking them so long?” Sam asked to no one in particular as he paced the floor of the room Blaine was supposed to occupy, unable to keep still in spite of how tired he was.

“I’m sure they’ll be here soon” Puck answered, reassuringly.

“Maybe he took a turn for the worse” Sam said, voicing his fears that way without him even being aware of it.

“I’m sure he didn’t. They just need to make sure he is going to be alright. After all, it was major surgery he underwent. Better to make sure, don’t you think?” Sebastian tried to reason with him.

“I guess...” Sam answered with a sigh, but he didn’t seem entirely convinced.

“Are you going to call Blaine’s brother?” Puck asked, suddenly remembering about Blaine’s only relative.

“I don’t know what to do…” Sam confessed, and by the tone of his voice it was easy to see he had already thought about it. “I know they’ve been incredibly close since they lost their parents a couple of years ago, even more than before, and Cooper would want to know about something like that but… he is in New Zeeland right now in a shooting, he said he was going to be difficult to get in contact with for a couple of weeks at least…”

“I’m sure they can reach him for you for such an important matter” Sebastian intervened.

“Yeah, probably, but as soon as he hears about Blaine being injured he will leave the shooting and be here in an instant, and I know Blaine wouldn’t want that because it’s Cooper’s first important role in a movie and he wouldn’t want for his brother to miss such an opportunity. Besides, he wouldn’t be here before Blaine woke up anyway, so I think I’ll let Blaine decide if he wants to tell him or not”

“I think it’s the best idea” Sebastian agreed, knowing how deeply Blaine felt about his brother and how he hated to be a burden to anyone.

“Though Cooper is going to kill you when he finds out” Puck added, only half lying.

“Yeah, probably” Sam answered, trying hard to smile at his friend’s poor attempt of humor, but it came out more as a grimace as he started pacing again. “Come on, how much longer are we going to have to wait”

“Not much longer now, I’m sure” Sebastian tried to placate him as he walked to him and rested a comforting hand in Sam’s shoulders before gently pushing him towards the chair he had been sitting on until then. “Why don’t you sit down for a while? You must be exhausted”

“Yeah” Sam answered unconvincingly, but then he ran to the door when he heard some movement outside and a couple of orderlies came in, pushing Blaine’s bed with them and leaving it next to the headboard on the wall.

As the porters left, Sam approached the bed slowly, as if fearful of what he was going to find. But the only thing he saw was his boyfriend’s beautiful and peaceful face; he would look as if he was just sleeping if it wasn’t for the oxygen mask, now that there were no traces of blood in him anymore, and that helped Sam’s heart get some much needed peace at last.

“Hey sweetie” Sam said in the most tender voice he was capable of without even realizing, as his hand found his way once more to Blaine’s forehead, to lovingly remove the adorable curls out of Blaine’s face. His other hand instinctively sought the warmth of Blaine’s, and Sam joined them in a strong grip that wouldn’t break for hours. The oxygen mask Blaine was wearing kept Sam from kissing Blaine’s lips, so he had to content himself with kissing his forehead instead, feeling immensely relieved when he didn’t feel the scary high temperature from only a few hours before.

Sam felt a strange peacefulness on his heart at Blaine’s presence, even if he was still unconscious and would be for a while. Somehow seeing him so calm, without all that blood on him, without the urgency of getting him out of danger, had a balsamic effect on Sam’s nerves. He knew Blaine was not completely out of the woods yet, but he felt he was going to be alright, however long it took. Because Sam would not have it any other way and he would do whatever it took to get Blaine a hundred per cent well again.

Without losing his grip on Blaine’s hand, he grabbed a chair and pulled it as near the bed as it was possible, so big was his need to keep touching Blaine, both to Blaine’s benefit and his own, as a reminder that everything was over and they were still alive and together.

“He looks so peaceful” Puck commented with a smile as he came behind Sam, relieved himself to see Blaine looking so good, all things considered.

“His color is so much better” Sebastian added, because he had been terrified by Blaine’s paleness when they made it out of the supermarket.

Sam could not say anything, but they could tell he was finally alright. The big tender smile on his face was a good proof of it, as were the kisses he kept depositing in Blaine’s hand on his every now and then, as his other hand travelled all the way up and down Blaine’s arm in a comforting gesture.

A nurse came a while later and ushered Sebastian and Puck out, saying maximum one person could stay the night there, and nobody questioned who that person would be. Not very comfortable with leaving Sam alone, but reassured by how much calmer and happier he looked than before, they left, with the promise they would be back first thing in the morning.

It was not much later, though, that the long hours spent in a constant stressful state took its toll on Sam and his eyelids started growing heavy, without him being able to stop them from closing, so he just rested his arms and head on the bed, just next to Blaine’s shoulder, and slept, not losing his grip on his boyfriend’s hand even for a second all night long.


	11. Chapter 11

Next morning, Sebastian and Puck made their way to the hospital again, as they had promised. When they reached Blaine’s room, they found Sam was asleep on the chair next to Blaine’s bed, holding his hand in a strong grip that brought a smile to their friend’s faces at the unbreakable bond those two shared.

Puck and Sebastian didn’t have the heart to wake Sam up, not knowing how much he had slept through the night –if at all–, so they just made themselves comfortable around the room and sat to wait.

It wasn’t much later when they noticed Sam starting to mumble incoherently. For a moment, they thought he was awakening and greeting them, but then they realized he was still deeply asleep, and probably having a nightmare. When he started to become really agitated, to the point of letting go of Blaine’s hand and moving his arms as if to defend himself from something they could not see, or to fight it, they decided to wake him up and free him from whatever demons were invading his dreams.

“Sam, wake up” Puck ordered as he gently shook Sam’s shoulder to get him out of his slumber.

Sam resisted for a while, but when Puck reinforced his grip on his upper arm and shook him a bit more forcefully, the blond woke up with a fright, violently slapping Puck’s hand away from him in a way that left them both speechless, confused, looking at each other once Sam was more aware of his surroundings.

“Puck” Sam was the first to react. “I’m so sorry, I was having a nightmare”

“We know” Puck answered, reassuringly, far from being offended by his friend’s involuntary rudeness. “We noticed how uneasy you looked, that’s why we woke you up. We would have let you sleep otherwise”

“I’m sorry” Sam repeated, genuinely regretful.

“It’s okay” Puck dismissed his apology.

“So has the doctor been here already?” Sebastian asked from his seat, trying to change the subject so as not to embarrass Sam any further.

“In fact he has, first thing in the morning. He said the wound is doing well and there is no sign of infection for now” Sam explained, daring to smile –although slightly– for the first time since their horrible ordeal started.

“That’s very good news, isn’t it?” Sebastian said, reciprocating Sam’s smile as he sighed in relief –after all, he had been worried sick about his best friend too.

“It sure is” Sam answered with an enthusiastic nod. “His lung sounds better too, it looks like it’s responding okay to the treatment, but it is way too soon to remove the oxygen, especially considering he is not yet awake to protest if he starts feeling worse again”

”Of course, it makes much more sense to wait until he is awake to see how he responds”

“That’s what the doctor said, yes” Sam said while nodding his head again. He then rubbed his eyes to lose all trace of sleep and turned to Blaine to grab his hand in a strong grip again, like he had been doing since they made it out of the shop.

Sebastian and Puck looked at each other, clearly worried. Obviously everybody’s main concern had been Blaine’s health and if he was going to be able to survive. But now that he seemed stable and on the road to recovery, other issues came to the surface, and it was clear that Sam was not dealing as well as it seemed with the whole ordeal, as he seemed completely unable to move away from Blaine even in the slightest.

“And how are you doing, Sam?” Sebastian asked him, temptatively, trying not to send him into the defensive when surely he could use a shoulder to cry on. Because Blaine was his best friend and, with him being out of action, Sebastian would make sure to look after Sam for him. It was the least he could do. And besides, Sam was a good friend too, and he just hoped he would be able to help the couple put that horrifying experience behind them in no time.

“I’m okay” Sam answered too quickly to be believed, as if he had the answer just ready for whoever would ask.

“You must be tired” Puck added, also quite obviously worried about his bro.

“Not so much, I slept most of the night” Sam answered, moving his attention to Blaine, as he distractedly brushed the side of his boyfriend’s face with the back of his fingers in a tender gesture, almost as if he couldn’t stop touching him just to make sure he was still there.

“Still, it can’t have been too comfortable, sitting on a chair like this” Puck insisted, highly suspicious Sam had not moved from Blaine’s side for a second the whole night.

“It’s not a big deal” Sam answered dismissively, not taking his eyes from Blaine’s peaceful face for even a second –if it was because he couldn’t tear his eyes from him or because he was avoiding their gazes, they didn’t know.

“I’m sure your neck has to be painfully stiff. Why don’t you go home for a while and Sebastian and I...” Puck tried to offer, but Sam interrupted him politely.

“No, thank you, boys. I’ll stay here”

“Are you sure, Sam? It’s not trouble at all for us to stay here with Blaine while you rest” Sebastian intervened, now almost as worried about Sam than he was about his best friend.

“I know you want to help, boys, and I appreciate it, but...” Sam didn’t finish his sentence and he hoped his friends wouldn’t pressure him to do it, but he was not so lucky.

“But what?” Puck insisted.

“I don’t want to leave him. I can’t” Sam answered softly, almost in a whisper.

“He will not be alone, we will stay with him”

“Besides, he’s not going to wake up yet, isn’t he? He doesn’t even know you’re here” Sebastian intervened, trying to reason with the upset young man.

“He knows” Sam contradicted him with total conviction. “He knows I’m here, I’m sure. Just as I would know if it was the other way around and he was the one staying at my side, which he undoubtedly would. I owe him the same”

“But he would understand, Sam. He would just want you to be okay” Sebastian tried to convince him one more time –even if he perfectly knew he was not going to be successful.

“I just can’t go, boys, I need to be by his side. I was so close to losing him...” It almost looked as if Sam was telling this to himself, instead of his friends, lost as he was in his reverie.

“But you didn’t. He’ll be alright” Sebastian insisted.

“Yes, but... I still need to be here. Please, don’t pressure me anymore” Sam begged for them to understand or, at least, respect his decision.

“We won’t” Puck promised, reluctantly.

“Mind if we stay here with you, though?” Sebastian offered with a smile.

Sam chuckled and then he looked at his friends gratefully.

“It would be great”

**********

The day came and went pretty much in the same way. As much as Sebastian and Puck didn’t keep their promise and tried to persuade Sam along the day to go and grab an bite, or go for a walk, or go home and rest or basically anything that involved getting out of that room for a while, there was no way he would accept to leave Blaine out of his sight.

He wasn’t talking much either, as he just sat there most of the time, in that old stuffed chair impossibly close to Blaine’s bed, at times stroking Blaine’s arm, other times his face or his hair, but always with that strong grip on his hand that had become so characteristic of them for the last hours. It was as if Sam needed to reassure himself constantly that Blaine was alive by touching him, by feeling the warmth of his skin that indicated there was still life in him.

When the night arrived and Sebastian and Puck were politely asked to leave again by the nurse, as only one person could stay the night, they made a last attempt of trying to convince Sam to let one of them relieve him on his guarding but, of course, to no avail. So they brought Sam something to eat, as there was no way he was leaving the room to go and get it himself, and with a big sadness and a good amount of worry for both their friends, they left them alone, again promising to be back first thing in the morning.

**********

When Puck and Sebastian made it to the hospital next morning, Sam seemed to be in better spirits, and he informed them that the doctor had told him that Blaine was doing great in every aspect and that they would stop sedating him already, so he could wake up and start recovering. None of them could wait to see Blaine’s beautiful eyes open and full of life again, so a general excitement filled the room for the first time since everything started.

After a while, they noticed Sam was getting restless, though, and couldn’t stay put in one place for more than a few minutes, almost looking like a caged animal that had been deprived from its freedom for too long. When he started pacing the floor for the third time, Puck couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Sam, are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay. Just tired. And impatient” Sam answered with a small smile.

“Did you sleep anything at all?” Sebastian asked.

“Not much” Sam admitted without offering any more explanation.

“Nightmares again?” Sebastian sensed what Sam was not saying.

Sam’s only response was to shrug his shoulders, not feeling the need to openly admit it but not wanting to lie either.

“You know what? That’s it” Puck intervened, standing up and moving to gently grab Sam’s arm to pull him towards the door. “You and I are going to the café to grab a bite or something. I’m sure you haven’t even had any breakfast”

“No, Puck, I can’t...” Sam answered politely while trying to disentangle his arms from Puck’s grip, but the latter was having none of that.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion” Puck answered playfully, as he pushed Sam to the door. “You need to get out of this room, even if it’s only for a few minutes, before you go totally crazy”

“Puck, wait” Sam stopped him before Puck could really move him out of the room. “He could wake up any minute now. I can’t leave him alone”

“And who says he is going to be alone?” Sebastian intervened. “Don’t I get to have a little quality time with my best friend? You have been hogging him long enough” Sebastian joked, eliciting a wide and much missed smile from Sam, who finally nodded in surrender because he really felt as if he needed some fresh air.

Sam moved to Blaine for a second before leaving and caressed his forehead as he bent down to tenderly talk to him.

“Hey, sweetie. I’m going now but I’ll be back in a second, okay? I love you” he said, placing a loving kiss to his forehead, before turning to Puck. “Ok, Puck, let’s go before I regret my decision”

Puck smiled and gestured the door to let him go first. Sam obeyed, but before he made it to the door he turned once more to look at Blaine, and then he turned to Sebastian.

“Don’t leave him alone, please” Sam pleaded.

“I wouldn’t even dream about it” Sebastian promised, and finally Sam and Puck left the room.

**********

Blaine’s eyelids felt very heavy when he tried to lift them to open his eyes. He felt as if he had no strength at all, and when he tried to speak, a grunt was the only sound that came out of his dry mouth.

“Killer! Are you awake?” Sebastian sat up on his seat next to Blaine when he heard him, and he rushed to pick Blaine’s hand as he caressed his arm with his other hand, hoping to offer some comfort for his more than probably confused and troubled mind. Trust Blaine’s timing to awaken the only time Sam wasn’t there, Sebastian thought.

Blaine only grunted again and then he slowly opened his eyes, moving them nervously all around him to try and guess where he was. Sebastian caressed the top of his head to catch his attention and Blaine’s gaze fell on him, clearly disoriented.

“Seb?” Blaine tried to say through his oxygen mask, but his throat was hoarse and his mouth felt parched, so practically no sound came out.

“Don’t try to talk, darling. You’ll be alright” Sebastian told him softly, as if he was talking to a wounded animal.

Blaine seemed to calm down under Sebastian’s soft voice and comforting touch on his head, and he closed his eyes again to keep his headache at bay.

“I’ll go and find the nurse to tell her you’re awake now. Will you be alright on your own here for a second?”

Blaine suddenly opened his eyes and looked around him fretfully, before his lips moved with some word Sebastian could not understand, though he felt the anxiety in his friend and the sudden speeding up of his breathing. He crouched down, nearing his ear to Blaine’s mouth.

“What did you say, buddy?” he asked him, because although he didn’t want him wasting his energy, he knew that whatever Blaine had asked had to be very important for him to get him this agitated.

“Sam?” Blaine was able to repeat a little louder.

Sebastian smiled fondly at that, always amazed at the relationship between those two, which would always make them look for each other like crazy when they were not in each other’s vicinity. And with Blaine feeling that vulnerable, it was not that surprising that he would desperately need his boyfriend near.

“He just went to the café with Puck to grab something to eat, he’ll be back in a second” Sebastian explained reassuringly.

“Is he alright?” Blaine asked, slowly regaining some of his voice.

“Yes, of course, but he hasn’t left your side for two whole days, we practically had to force him to get out of your room” Sebastian answered with a smile.

“Are you lying to me?” Blaine asked, apprehension very clear in his voice.

“Of course not, why would I lie to you?” Sebastian asked, puzzled at Blaine’s question.

“He didn’t make it out of the supermarket, did he?” Blaine said, very agitated, tears starting to form in his eyes.

Sebastian sat on the bed at Blaine’s side, and grabbed his good hand on both of his, his heart breaking at the realization that his friend thought that the love of his life was dead. No wonder he looked so upset.

“Blaine, calm down, please. I tell you he’s okay” Sebastian tried to convince him that everything was fine.

But Blaine was inconsolable and took the oxygen mask away from his face as he fought against Sebastian’s restraining arms.

“B, put that back, you need it” Sebastian tried to put the mask back on his face, but Blaine would not be still.

“Tell me the truth, please” Blaine begged, openly sobbing now and sitting up on the bed.

“Blaine, I’m telling you the truth, he’s alright, I swear” Sebastian almost yelled, desperate to put an end to an stress he was sure his friend didn’t need in the least.

“Sam!” he yelled from the bottom of his heart with the little strength he had, which saddened Sebastian deeply at not knowing what to do to help his friend.

“Hey, what’s happening?” Sam asked in a worried tone, as he and Puck had made their way into the bedroom without being noticed.

“Sam, thank God, come here so he can see you. He won’t believe you’re okay” Sebastian answered in relief as he got up from the bed and moved to let Sam get closer to it.

“Hey, sweetie, I’m here! See? I’m okay” Sam softly told his boyfriend, taking the place on the bed from Sebastian, and very carefully he embraced his boyfriend to his chest.

Blaine wasn’t able to form any coherent words, and just clung to him and sobbed his heart out on his boyfriend’s shoulder, all the trauma of the robbery still very present on him. Sam, who had had two days to come to terms with it, knew perfectly well how he was feeling, so he let him cry and just contented himself with caressing Blaine’s back reassuringly, hoping to offer some kind of comfort.

When Sam noticed Blaine’s weakness starting to surface, he finally let go of him and made him lie down again, carefully pulling the oxygen mask over his mouth and nose again, and then he caressed the wild curls that had fallen on his forehead.

“I’m here, ok? I’ve got you” Sam told him reassuringly, again picking up his hand in a strong grip, this time for the benefit of both of them. “We are together and you’ll be right as rain in no time. And then everything will be alright again, ok?”

“What happened to the other people?” Blaine asked, ignoring Sam’s attempts of comforting.

Sam looked at Sebastian and Puck before answering, but Blaine noticed and he understood immediately that no one else had come alive from that hell. The tears appeared again immediately and he covered his eyes with his hand as heartbreaking sobs shook his body again. Sam stood up and moved closer to Blaine’s head to rest his lips in Blaine’s forehead in an undying kiss as he reinforced his grip on his boyfriend’s hand to rest it near his heart.

It would be a long time before they could overcome all of this.

**********

“Sam?” Sebastian asked softly as his head appeared behind the door. “Can we come in?”

Puck and Sebastian had been asked before to leave so Blaine could calm down after the major break-down he had experienced upon awakening, but they had decided to come back in the afternoon to check on their friend, worried as they were about him.

“Yes, of course” Sam greeted them with a small smile, whispering. “Don’t be loud, though, Blaine just fell asleep”

“How is he?” Puck asked, once they were both in the room, as they looked fondly at their sleeping friend.

“Well, it took me a while to calm him down after he found out about the rest of the hostages, and by then he was so exhausted that he fell asleep. The therapist told me he’s probably feeling guilty because he survived and the others didn’t, apparently it happens a lot in this kind of situations” Sam answered while fondly caressing Blaine’s hair, amazed for the hundredth time at how big his boyfriend’s heart was –although this time he almost wished it wasn’t so much–. “He’s gone through so much...” he mumbled, lost in his own thoughts.

“Yes, he did” Sebastian agreed with a nod of his head, before his face changed into a more serious expression. “And so did you, don’t forget that. Blaine is feeling very vulnerable right now, because he just woke up and he’s so weak and in pain, and he still has to come to terms with everything. But once he gets better, you’re going to have to lean on him as much as he will need to lean on you”

“It’s not the same, Seb. I wasn’t almost killed” Sam tried to contradict him, not even wanting to think about burdening his injured lover with more negative emotions.

“No, but you had to watch as he was, and had to see how close he came to... not making it” Sebastian fought hard to find the right words to not make it sound so rough. “That needs a lot of healing too. And knowing Blaine, once he gets a little better he will agree with me, so he’s going to be there for you too alright, whether you like it or not. You just have to let him”

“I’ll be alright as long as he is” Sam dismissed Sebastian’s worries.

“Did you just meet Blaine? You think he’s going to put his feelings over yours? No, the same as you won’t. So believe me, it’s a road you’re going to have to walk together” Sebastian tried to reason for him, but he only needed to look at Sam’s expression once to know his words had never been more ignored than were being in that moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know some of you are going to be disappointed with this, but I don't think I'm going to include Cooper in this story... I had it planned already with just the four of them, that's why I made up that ridiculous story about not wanting to worry him... Sorry! :(


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, but it's been madness at work! :(

When Blaine awoke next day, it was not such a traumatic experience, as Sam was at his side this time, safe and sound, once again holding his hand in a strong grip. And he was undoubtedly watching him like a hook, because the second Blaine opened his eyes, he sat up on the chair and moved to fondle Blaine’s curls with his free hand.

“Hey, you” Sam told him tenderly, with such a big smile on his face that Blaine could only reciprocate with one of his own.

“Hey, yourself” he said, tiredly, as he was still feeling very weak.

“How are you feeling, babe?” Sam asked, trying to sound light-hearted, though Blaine could easily detect the anxiousness behind his words.

“Why do I feel so tired all the time?” Blaine asked pitifully, eliciting a fond chuckle from Sam, who squeezed his hand comfortingly.

“The doctor said it would happen. It’s from the blood loss. Your body needs to regain its strength”

“I wanna sit up” Blaine pitifully pleaded, using those trademark puppy eyes he knew Sam could never resist.

“I thought you said you were tired” Sam replied, his gaze a mixture of fondness and judgment at his boyfriend’s complete inability to be still, even in circumstances like that.

“And I am… But I’m also tired of lying down all the time” Blaine whined in frustration before he could stop himself. “My back is even starting to hurt for being so much time in the same position, so please, can you help me sit up for a while?”

“We need to be very careful with those ribs” Sam warned him, as the mother hen in him was surely not going to make it easy for the injured man.

“I know, that’s why I asked you to help me” Blaine answered, implicitly threatening to do it himself if his boyfriend didn’t help him sit up, so in the end Sam decided that it would be the lesser of two evils.

Very carefully, Sam put his arm under Blaine’s upper body and carefully lifted him up without Blaine being able to do much more than raise the bed through the remote so his boyfriend could easily accommodate him, weak and exhausted as he was. Sam didn’t let him raise the bed too much, as he didn’t want for him to fully sit and put too much pressure on his broken ribs, but he compensated him for it with a couple of fluffy pillows under his back until he was half sitting and as comfortable as he could get.

“Does it hurt?” Sam asked once he made sure there was absolutely nothing else he could do to get his boyfriend more comfortable.

“Not that much” Blaine answered, though the wince still very present on his face that lasted practically a minute made Sam think he wasn’t being entirely honest. “And how about this?” Blaine asked, frustratingly pointing at the oxygen mask still covering his mouth.

“The doctor said you could take it off when you awoke and see how it feels”

“May I take it off then?” Blaine asked, and Sam had to smile at the fact that he was asking him for his permission and how adorable he looked while doing so.

“Yes, you may” Sam relented, his smile only turning bigger at the happiness he could easily see in Blaine’s eyes at his words. “But first you have to promise me you’ll put it back if you can’t breathe a hundred per cent well”

“I’ll be alright, Sammy” Blaine answered, already moving his hand to take it off, but Sam covered his hand with his own and stopped him.

“It’s not something to be taken lightly, B” Sam gently admonished him, more serious than he had intended. “Your broken ribs punctured a lung, you had serious problems with your breathing and...”

“Sam, I know” Blaine interrupted him, softly, not wanting for his boyfriend to get too worked up or upset about it, especially now that he was alright.

“Just promise me you will put it back if you need it” Sam begged, and Blaine was surprised at his boyfriend’s insistence.

“I promise” Blaine answered, and it was then, and only then, that Sam let go of Blaine’s hand and allowed him to remove the mask.

“Are you alright? Is everything working okay?” Sam asked, more anxious than what Blaine would have considered normal.

“Sammy, I promise I’m okay” Blaine tried to reassure him, now he being the one to grab and squeeze his boyfriend’s hand in reassurance.

“Are you sure?”

“I am sure. Will you please stop fretting and give me a kiss now that we don’t have any obstacles?” Blaine joked, and Sam chuckled before standing up to oblige with his partner’s wishes.

Sam brought his hand to the back of Blaine’s neck and bent down to cover Blaine’s lips with his own, taking the time to savor them and to feel the familiar butterflies on his stomach he felt whenever they kissed even after all those years, and from which he had been deprived for days.

“Is that it?” Blaine joked when Sam broke the kiss much sooner than he would have liked it, making the latter chuckle.

“Yes, that’s it. You’re still convalescent and the last thing you need is for me to deprive you of all the oxygen you need” Sam answered, keeping with the joking atmosphere, but Blaine could see there was some truth and some honest worry behind his words.

“Are you alright, Sammy?” Blaine asked directly, having never been one to beat about the bush, especially with his life partner and the person who knew him better than anyone –and whom he knew better than anyone in return.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?” Sam asked back, trying to take the attention off himself –again.

“You already did, and we already established that I am. So now I’m asking you: are you alright?” Blaine insisted, getting more serious by the minute and not willing for his worry to be dismissed so easily.

“Of course I’m alright. You know I wasn’t hurt” Sam answered elusively.

“That you didn’t receive any bullet doesn’t mean you weren’t hurt” Blaine answered gently, looking intently at him, and Sam felt as if he was reading his mind. “I can tell you’re not okay”

“I just... have been very worried about you” Sam confessed, hoping it was answer enough.

“But I’m on the mend now”

“So that’s why I’m okay now” Sam replied, dismissing Blaine’s concern.

“But...”

“No buts, B. You’re much better, but you still have a long way to be completely alright. You have to focus on getting better, and the last thing you need is to worry about me. Especially considering I’m perfectly fine” Sam answered, rearranging the sheets covering Blaine just to have something to do and not to have to look at Blaine’s scrutinizing gaze.

Blaine was about to reply when there was a knock on the door, and Sebastian’s head appeared behind it.

“Is everyone awake and decent in here?” he joked when he saw Blaine was in fact very much awake.

Blaine looked slightly annoyed for a second about not having been able to finish his conversation with Sam, but he knew they would have plenty of time on the days to come, so he tried to forget about it and focus his attention on their friends, already entering the room. After all, he hadn’t practically seen them for days –yes, he knew they had been there a lot, but he had been unconscious, so he had been unable to enjoy their company– and he missed them too.

“Come on in, you two” Blaine invited them in, and the smile that invaded both Sebastian’s and Puck’s lips at his light and joyful tone –especially after the devastated and inconsolable version of him they had witnessed the day before– was priceless.

Sebastian and Puck were delighted to see Blaine awake and alert, half-sitting and not even wearing the oxygen mask anymore. He looked so much peaceful and content than the day before that Sebastian practically threw himself at the bed to embrace Blaine –obviously being very careful– and kissed his cheek, making Blaine chuckle.

“Hi, Seb” Blaine greeted him warmly, and only when the taller guy broke the embrace he could see Sebastian’s eyes were shinny with unshed tears. “Hey, I’m alright now, you silly”

“I know you are, I’m just... so happy to see you like this” Sebastian answered, slightly embarrassed as he dried his tears with a concealed finger.

It was Puck’s turn next and he carelessly slapped Blaine’s back in greeting, which immediately earned him a slight wince from Blaine and a killer look from Sam.

“Will you be careful, you moron? Do you even use your brains at all?” Sam said, only half joking as he rested his hand on Blaine’s shoulder, almost as if he wanted to check that Puck hadn’t really hurt him.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t think!” Puck immediately apologized, horrified at the thought that he could have injured his friend any further. “You ok, Blainey?”

“I’m ok, don’t worry” Blaine immediately answered, forcing himself to smile even if his heart felt heavy with worry at Sam’s overprotective attitude. “I’m not made of glass, you know?”

“Even then, he won’t do that again” Sam intervened as he gave a stern gaze at his friend. “Will you?”

“No, of course not” Puck answered, mockingly pretending to gulp even if he could feel Sam was not entirely joking –and he had been actually reprimanded for his careless action.

“And how are you doing today, killer?” Sebastian intervened, trying to change subjects on everyone’s benefit.

“Much better, Seb, thanks. Hey, I don’t even get to wear this anymore!” Blaine answered a little too jovially, pointing at the oxygen mask.

“We’ll see about that” Sam intervened from his chair, making Blaine sigh in frustration, though he tried to ignore Sam’s words and turned to Sebastian again.

“Listen, Seb: I’m sorry about yesterday” Blaine apologized to his best friend about the incident of the day before. “I was a complete idiot, I don’t know how I could even think you were lying to me about something like that, I have no excuse...”

Sebastian didn’t let him finish, though, and took Blaine’s good hand between both of his and squeezed it in a reassuring gesture.

“Don’t be silly, I don’t need an apology” Sebastian kindly answered in all honesty. “You had just woken up from a medically induced coma and you were confused. Who wouldn’t be in your place?”

“Still, I had no right...” Blaine insisted, but again Sebastian didn’t let him finish.

“There was no offense taken, man, I swear. So please, don’t worry”

“Are you sure?” Blaine insisted.

“Hey, if you don’t let it go _then_ I’m going to get angry” Sebastian playfully threatened, and Blaine chuckled, implying that way he understood Sebastian wasn’t offended at all.

The four of them spent an enjoyable hour, joking, talking about silly things... and basically keeping a light atmosphere for the couple’s sake. Even Sam and Blaine participated in the conversation actively –well, more Sam than Blaine, as the latter was still as weak as a kitten, but he still listened and smiled, even laughed in a couple of occasions at Puck’s general silliness–. But then Sebastian and Puck needed to leave, as they really had to go to work after neglecting it for two days.

“I’m sorry” Sebastian apologized. “But we really can’t keep postponing it”

“Seb, don’t worry. Of course you have to go, the world won’t stop turning just because I’m in the hospital” Blaine dismissed his apology, perfectly understanding they had to leave, even if that was the last thing they wanted to do –especially Sebastian.

“But we’ll be back this evening for sure” Puck promised, kind of feeling guilty too about leaving them.

“That will be great” Blaine replied with a smile, wanting them to see he really understood. “Don’t worry, please. It’s bad enough I have one mother-hen, don’t make it three”

“Hey!” Sam protested playfully.

“And please, take this one with you on your way out and force him into the cafe to have some breakfast. Otherwise he won’t move from here, he won’t ever eat, he will get skinny and I pretty much like him like he is now, perfect abs and everything, so...” Blaine joked, making the others laugh.

“No, I’ll just stay here, just in case” Sam said, to nobody’s surprise.

“In case what? Do you think I’m going to fall from the bed?” Blaine joked even if internally his worry about Sam’s state only increased with his boyfriend’s need to be watching him constantly. “Because it’s the only thing that could happen, I don’t have the strength to do anything else, I tell you”

“All the more reason not to leave you alone” Sam insisted. “What if you need anything?”

“Sammy, love, knowing you it will only be like five minutes. Just help me lie down again and I think I will make it”

“Come on, Sam” Sebastian intervened, wanting to lend his best friend a hand. “Can’t you see Blaine is trying to get rid of you for a while? Must be in one of these strange I-need-my-own-space periods of his”

Sam chuckled at Sebastian’s humor attempt and finally relented, knowing they were right: after all, Sam really needed to eat something, and it was more than probable that he was kind of suffocating his boyfriend with his constant presence and overwhelming caring –even if Blaine was too kind to say anything about it–. So with a heavy heart, but knowing he had to give Blaine some space, Sam helped Blaine into a full lying position again in the most gentle way –trying to ignore the wince of pain his boyfriend couldn’t stop at the movement– and prepared to leave.

“I’ll be back in a minute” Sam said, leaning over Blaine to lovingly kiss his forehead.

“I don’t doubt it” Blaine replied, his voice full of love and appreciation –the last thing he wanted was for Sam to think he didn’t appreciate everything he was doing for him–, as he caressed Sam’s cheek with the back of his fingers before the latter moved away.

A smile dedicated to his lover filled Blaine’s face until the moment the door closed behind Sam and their friends. Then it was replaced with a sad sigh, as Blaine turned on his side and curled around himself. Yes, he worried about Sam skipping meals and feeling trapped just to not leave him alone, but the truth was that Sebastian was right: he had insisted for Sam to leave just so he could have a moment to himself. Just so he could feel sorry for himself, be in pain and cry in grief without Sam’s worried gaze fixed on him as if he was going to break any moment. He felt guilty enough without causing even more worry or pain on his boyfriend’s already sore heart.

Tears didn’t take a long time to appear now he didn’t need to be strong for anyone, and this time Blaine didn’t do anything to stop them.

**********

When Sam entered the room less than ten minutes later, still chewing the last remains of his breakfast because he hadn’t even stopped enough to finish it in the cafeteria, he found Blaine on his side, his back to the door, so he just tiptoed in in case he was asleep –after all, Blaine was still very weak and needed to sleep quite often. But when he heard a sniffle, Sam immediately knew something was up and he hurried the rest of the way, going around the bed so he could see Blaine’s face.

“Hey, sweetie” Sam said, in the most tender voice he was capable, as he placed his hand on Blaine’s forehead to caress the hair falling on it.

“Sam!” Blaine exclaimed, as he quickly removed the tears present on his cheeks with his fingers, not giving him the option to talk. “I didn’t hear you coming in”

“I was trying not to make any noise, in case you were asleep” Sam replied, giving Blaine the time to compose himself before trying to get him to talk.

“Well, you did it very good” Blaine said with a smile, trying to divert Sam’s attention from his crying, obviously to no avail.

“What’s wrong, love?” Sam asked him lovingly, still playing with his hair.

“Nothing. I’m just so tired all the time...”

“I know you are, sweetie” Sam answered, placing a kiss on the top of his head before sitting down on the edge of the bed, already grabbing Blaine’s hand in the grip that had become so characteristic of them in the last days. “But I was asking why are you crying”

Blaine smiled in spite of himself, as he should have known there was no possible hiding when it came to his boyfriend. So he just closed his eyes with force, letting the tears flow freely and tired sobs shake his body.

Sam had not been expecting a breakdown, but he couldn’t say he was very surprised about it, all things considered. He just kissed the top of Blaine’s head again, his lips remaining against Blaine’s skin afterwards while he cried, resting his head on top of Blaine’s and squeezing his hand strongly while caressing his head with his other hand.

Sam didn’t try to stop his tears, nor did he offer any word that he knew would have sounded empty. He just stayed at his side, letting his touch reassure Blaine of his love, and patiently waited for his boyfriend to let all the grief and pain and anger out of his system, because he felt that’s what he needed.

When Blaine’s sobs started to diminish, Sam lifted his head from Blaine’s so he could look at his eyes, and in them he found an enormous sadness and a grief that almost broke his own heart. He could clearly see Blaine was still not over the whole ordeal, and he didn’t know how to help him.

“B?” he asked, tentatively. “Do you want us to talk about it?”

“I’m sorry I made a scene, Sammy” Blaine apologized, sniffles still shaking him from time to time.

“Don’t be ridiculous, if you needed it that I’m glad I was here for you” Sam answered with a loving smile, not wanting for Blaine to feel guilty or embarrassed on top of everything.

“You didn’t need that” Blaine lamented, shaking his head in disgust towards himself and his own weakness. “You worry enough about me as it is, without me giving you more reasons”

“And you think that you bottling up your emotions is going to make me feel better?” Sam reprimanded him with a fond chuckle.

“As you are doing, you mean?” Blaine reproached him gently.

“I’m not hiding anything, I’m okay. I’m just worried about you, and you already know that, don’t you?”

“I surely do”

“So what happened, love? Were you remembering about... that?” Sam asked him gently, not wanting to specify what “that” was.

Blaine closed his eyes for a second before nodding, his emotions so palpable that Sam could feel them as if they were his own.

“I can’t stop thinking about that woman...” Blaine confessed, his voice shaking with new tears. “The one who lent me her shawl. She seemed such a nice person... And now she’s gone, and I don’t even know her name...”

“Yes, she was a good person” Sam nodded absentmindedly, remembering how it had been her words that convinced him to make the final escape that had saved both his and Blaine’s lives.

“She didn’t deserve to...” Blaine wasn’t able to finish his sentence, as once again the lump on his throat softened his voice until it disappeared.

“No, she surely didn’t” Sam agreed, stroking Blaine’s arm in a comforting pace.

“Nor did the others”

“No”

“Just as I didn’t deserve to live more than them, did I?” Blaine asked rhetorically, at last showing his deepest concern.

“B...” Sam tried comfort him, his heart breaking at Blaine’s sadness and obvious guilt, hating that he got to feel like this on top of how much he had suffered himself, but his boyfriend didn’t even let him start.

“No, Sam, it’s the truth. I was wounded and they weren’t, and yet I survived and they didn’t. How does that make any sense?”

“B, it doesn’t have to make sense. It’s just how everything went, and nothing we can say or feel or think is going to change it”

“It’s not fair, I should have died, like they did” Blaine mumbled to himself, but Sam heard it.

“B, I don’t want you thinking that” Sam pleaded, barely managing to keep his own voice from breaking at the mere reminder of how losing Blaine had felt. “No, it’s not fair, you’re right. But not the fact that you’re alive, which I can’t stop feeling grateful for it every time I close my eyes. No, what is unfair is they died. Full stop. You dying wouldn’t have helped them in any way, they would still be gone. But it would have killed me, I can tell you that”

Blaine intently looked at his boyfriend, with his stoic and strong expression while trying to comfort him and making feel better. But his eyes, those green immensities Blaine knew so well, told a completely different story. They spoke about love, sadness, relief. But above all they spoke about fear. The terror Sam must have felt when he thought Blaine wouldn’t make it… He couldn’t even imagine it. And Blaine only wished he could make it go away so he wouldn’t have to see it in his boyfriend’s eyes ever again.

“Then, if only for that, I’m glad I made it” Blaine told his boyfriend with a small smile, and Sam leant over to kiss his lips, his heart bursting with love for the man in front of him.

“Don’t feel guilty about surviving, love. Just feel grateful. I surely am” Sam said as he gently took Blaine in his arms and embraced him as close to his chest as he could manage, both taking comfort in the familiar warmth of each other’s skin.

And they didn’t let go in what felt like hours.


	13. Chapter 13

Days went on pretty much the same in the hospital, with Sam refusing to let Blaine alone again after his breakdown the last time, and still fussing over him constantly, to the point of almost driving him crazy –although fortunately Blaine was a very patient person and understood Sam’s actions only came from worry and love, so he refrained from complaining about it.

Blaine still had some very hard days, as the pain from the bullet wound and his broken ribs got pretty bad when the painkillers wore off, and he was still feeling quite depressed. Sam, on the other hand, stayed strong as ever, only wanting to help Blaine in every possible way, putting his own emotions aside –not as smartly as he thought, though, as Blaine could very well see them, even if Sam wouldn’t admit them.

Sebastian had arrived to the hospital one day with a desperate Cooper on his phone, wanting to know what the hell had happened. As soon as the crew of the movie he was shooting had arrived to civilization again, Cooper had read the news about a robbery ended in tragedy in a supermarket in Lima on the internet, and a feeling of dread had instantly filled his chest even if he knew there had to be hundreds of supermarkets in the city. He had tried reaching his brother on the phone, just to make sure he was exaggerating and laugh about it, and when that had failed, he had tried with Sam. Of course both of them had lost their phones in that supermarket, and being locked in that damned hospital for days, they still hadn’t replaced them, so none of them had answered Cooper’s calls. Starting to get really desperate after a couple of days of trying, and having noticed how neither Blaine or Sam had updated any of their social networks profiles for days, Cooper had decided to try with his brother’s best friend, and Sebastian, although tentatively, only confirmed his worst suspicions: yes, they had been held hostages in that damned robbery.

Cooper demanded for Sebastian to bring his phone to his brother immediately so he could hear his brother and really believe he was safe and sound, and of course Sebastian couldn’t refuse –both because he understood Cooper’s fretting and because he was afraid of him if he didn’t obey–. And Blaine had had to fight really hard against the tears threatening to break his voice when he heard his beloved brother’s familiar and reassuring voice for the first time after such an ordeal, but he didn’t want for him to worry so he had to look as if he was fine. He didn’t tell him about the bullet, and only said that he had received a couple of blows that had affected his ribs, and that’s why he was staying at the hospital. It had been very hard to convince Cooper not to leave the shooting and jump on the first plane to Ohio anyway, and only Sam’s assurances that he would take care of him until he finished with his work finally made him relent, under the promise of getting a new phone immediately so he could call him every day to see how he was doing. And of course Blaine had felt awful about lying to his brother, but it was bad enough than his life and Sam’s had been turned upside down: no need to bring anyone else into that mess.

His long days in the hospital were surely not making Blaine feel any better either, and he started begging the doctors to let him go home, with the promise he would do everything they said, that he would rest a lot and take care of the wound conscientiously. At first Sam opposed to that, as he didn’t think Blaine was well enough to be out of the doctors’ sight –or at least it made him feel better to be surrounded by doctors in case Blaine made a turn for the worse or whatever–. But then he saw the depression falling on his boyfriend at his imprisonment on top of everything, and he ended siding up with him with trying to persuade the doctors, until at last they could only cave in under the strict promise to behave –to which Sam had assured he was not letting him out of his sight, and Blaine was positive he really meant it.

So at last they were making their way home, comfortably sitting on the backseat of a taxi cab. The motor of the car wasn’t even on yet and Blaine had already curled on Sam’s side, as he used to do whenever they had the chance, and Sam couldn’t be more delighted about it. Any little gesture that resembled normality warmed his heart greatly those days, and if that included having Blaine perching on him in that sweet and devoted way only he knew how to do it, then it could only be described as happiness.

“You know what I’ve been missing the most all these days?” Blaine told him with a smile, breaking the comfortable silence between them all of a sudden.

“What?” Sam asked, curiously as his hand idly stroke Blaine’s arm up and down.

“For us sleeping together” Blaine answered, with such a loving gaze that Sam felt he was going to melt.

“Don’t go getting any ideas, you need complete rest and you know it, you pervert” Sam scolded him playfully.

“I said sleeping! It was you who had dirty thoughts on your mind! Who’s the pervert then? I’m completely innocent” Blaine joked, batting his eyelashes to give his words more effect, eliciting a chuckle from Sam.

“Yeah, you’re a saint” Sam answered playfully, accompanying his words with a kiss to Blaine’s forehead.

“That I am. But no, I’m serious. I miss the warmth of your body when you’re not in bed with me” Blaine told him, blushing in embarrassment at his own rush of emotion, as he curled even closer on Sam’s chest, purring in bliss at Sam’s caresses moved to the back of his neck. “I miss the strength of your arms around me”

Sam felt a stab of pain in his heart for a second, as he thought about how close he had come to spend the rest of his life in an empty bed, with no warm body to hold in his slumber. He shuddered visibly at the thought and Blaine looked at him, worriedly.

“Are you okay, love?” he asked his boyfriend.

“Yes, I just shivered. It’s starting to get cold, is it?” Sam said, but to Blaine it seemed as if he was dismissing him –again.

“Is it?” Blaine repeated, clearly stating he was not being fooled.

“Then it must be you, that still give me the shivers after all this time” Sam joked again, carefully squeezing Blaine to his chest, and effectively ending the conversation that way.

Blaine knew it was not the time to get him to talk, in the middle of a cab trip, so he had to content himself with kissing Sam’s cheek and strengthening the grip on his middle, trying to show him his unconditional love and support, even if he claimed not to need it. But he was not going to let it go, Blaine thought, Sam should know that. One way or another, he was going to help him.

**********

Fortunately, as soon as they made it home they started feeling better already, away from the hospital, which was a constant reminder of why they were there in the first place. There, at home, they could start being them again, and familiarity and routine came back to them naturally as they had dinner, cuddled together in the sofa for a while to watch some bad TV, and then moved to the bedroom to finally sleep together.

In the middle of the night, though, Sam awoke with a start, cold sweat covering his body and making him shiver. Or was it fear? His heart started pounding like crazy when he realized he was lying on his side, facing the wall, and he couldn’t see Blaine, so he turned around and frantically looked for Blaine in the dark, palpating the bed with his hands until he felt the warmth of the skin on Blaine’s stomach. He sighed in relief and then, and only then, his heart began diminish his rhythm to return to normality.

Even if he couldn’t remember what he was dreaming before he woke up in distress, he could tell it had been a nightmare, and it probably had involved Blaine. Or more accurately, losing Blaine, judging by the fear he had felt at not finding him at his side.

He slowly laid down again, on his back, breathing deep to try and calm his nerves, his hand still connected to Blaine’s stomach, not ready yet to lose the contact: he still needed the physical reminder of Blaine’s familiar skin if he wanted not to scream at the top of his lungs, which was what he felt like doing at the moment. He felt as if he was slowly going crazy, and the only thing that kept him from really losing it was Blaine. Or the fact that Blaine still needed him so much. Yes, that was the key to everything: Blaine was hurt and vulnerable, so he had to stay strong to take care of him. If it had been the other way around, Blaine would definitely do it. Or hadn’t been Blaine the one who had taken the bullet meant for him? He owed him so much...

He was interrupted on his thinking by the rustling of the sheets as Blaine slowly moved to curl on Sam’s side, resting his head on Sam’s shoulder and enveloping him with his good arm. It felt so good to have Blaine pressed against him, so familiar and reassuring, that for a second he could almost pretend nothing had happened and it was just another night with his boyfriend at his side... Feeling calmer under Blaine’s touch, Sam welcomed him in his embrace and rested his head on top of Blaine’s, caressing his spine with the tip of his fingers.

“Sammy?” Blaine mumbled, still more asleep than awake, making Sam chuckle affectionately.

“What, honey?” he replied softly, not wanting him to wake up too much to be able to fall asleep again, although he doubted he would have any trouble with the painkillers he was still forced to take –and which still made him so drowsy.

“Are you okay?” Blaine asked in a sleep-slurred voice, and Sam’s heart warmed with the fact that Blaine would still feel his troubled mind and worry about him even in his sleep.

“Of course I’m okay, sweetie. Don’t worry about me and sleep” Sam answered in a soothing voice, before placing a loving kiss on the top of his boyfriend’s head.

When Blaine didn’t answer immediately, Sam thought he had fallen asleep again and he closed his eyes to try some shut-eye himself before dawn. But then Blaine’s soft voice, even in a whisper, filled the room and Sam’s heart.

“I love you” he mumbled as he fell asleep, and he would never know how many tears those three words had brought to Sam’s eyes that night, just at the pleasure of hearing them after having been so close to never hearing them again. There was not a day when Sam didn’t remember the fear, the panic at having Blaine’s lifeless body in his arms, and he had to make a big effort to remember that it was all over, that Blaine was okay –or he would be soon– and that they were still together. He hoped the day would come again when he didn’t need to reassure himself of Blaine’s presence at his side when he woke up, that he would be able to simply enjoy it without the always-present anxiety attached to it nowadays. He hoped someday they would get to be the same they were before that nightmare. And he hoped that day wouldn’t be too far away, or he was not sure he would be able to bear it.

**********

The next day was pretty much the same. Sam had taken the role of being Blaine’s will, telling him what he could or couldn’t do, making sure he didn’t do more than he felt he was able to. And Blaine took it without a complaint, even though it was very frustrating for an independent person like him, because he felt so grateful to his boyfriend for the way he had taken care of him and guilty about making him so worried all the time, and because he was very worried about him in return and the last thing he wanted was to upset him.

Blaine had been lying on the sofa all morning, practically been forced by Sam, who argued he was still too weak and tired to do much else. Blaine was bored and frustrated and, on top of that, he had noticed his arm wasn’t feeling like it did before the shot: he had been told the ligaments on his shoulder had been injured, but fortunately it didn’t have to be permanent. And if his wound was doing so much better, shouldn’t his arm be getting back to normal? The mobility was pretty much okay (as far as the still tender wound would let it), but strength was another whole matter. Sometimes it felt as if his arm was made of rubber, so weak and unfamiliar it felt when he tried to grab something and he wasn’t able. He hadn’t even been able to correctly press on the keys of his piano with that hand when he had tried in the small period of time it had taken Sam to get a shower, for God’s sake, and he could scream just at the thought of a life without being able to make music.

He had wanted to tell Sam about it, ask him about his opinion if he should worry about it or it was too soon to be fully healed. But Sam was so anxious all the time, so worried about his health, that Blaine didn’t have the heart to add yet more weight to his heavy burden. And when Sam appeared at the door to ask him if he was alright and generally fuss over him for the third time in little more than half an hour, he decided to keep his troubles to himself. Healing Sam internally was much more important now than his arm. And it wasn’t going to be easy.

“Why don’t you come and sit with me for a while?” Blaine asked him, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice, when Sam appeared at the door for the fourth time. “I’m feeling kind of lonely”

“I’d love to, sweetie. But let me grab a blanket first, it’s pretty cold in here for someone in your state” Sam answered as he disappeared again in search of a blanket.

Blaine sighed loudly, biting his tongue to stop a rebuke about Sam’s reference to “his state”, because he knew he needed to get Sam to talk, and he was not going to be able to do it with direct confrontation, he was sure of that. So when Sam came back and threw the blanket around his shoulders, he just smiled gratefully and sat up to let his boyfriend sit next to him, so he could nestle up on his chest, Sam’s arm immediately surrounding him lovingly.

“Thank you, love” Blaine told his boyfriend, looking up from his chest with an adoring gaze. “I feel so good like this”

“So do I” Sam answered just as lovingly, kissing Blaine’s forehead. “Are you okay, do you need anything?”

“No, I don’t, and if I do, I will get it myself. I’m not an invalid, you know?” Blaine told him playfully, but there was a lot of truth behind his words. He was obviously not completely well yet, but he was not as bad as to need Sam to do everything for him, and the truth was that his constant worry and fussing was starting to asphyxiate him. He just wanted his beloved boyfriend back, and not that anxious, suffocating and introverted version of himself.

“I know you aren’t, but let’s not rush into things, okay? You were...”

“Pretty bad for a while, I know” Blaine interrupted, a little annoyed and tired of hearing the same words every time he tried to do something Sam didn’t approve. “Was. But I’m not anymore. You just don’t see it”

“Of course I can see you’re doing much better” Sam answered patiently, not wanting to start a fight that would upset Blaine while to his eyes he needed so much rest and peace. “But that doesn’t mean you’re completely fine already, does it? And please, don’t get upset. I just worry about you”

“I worry about you too, you know” Blaine confessed, tentatively, trying to start the conversation he had been aiming for from the beginning.

“Me? Why?” Sam asked, in surprise. “I’m perfectly fine”

“I think you’re trying to convince me and yourself you’re okay and keeping strong on my behalf, but I don’t think it’s possible to be as ‘perfectly fine’ as you claim to be after what we’ve been through”

“Is there something wrong in being okay that I don’t know of?” Sam asked with a laugh that didn’t sound as honest as he would have liked.

“I find it kind of strange that you haven’t had any breakdowns, not even a low moment all these days, when I haven’t been able to stay strong even for a whole day”

“You’ve not been weak about it, if that’s what you’re implying. You’ve just been struggling”

“And why haven’t you?” Blaine asked him honestly, hoping to start breaking the wall Sam had built around himself.

“It’s not the same. You were hurting so much, frustratingly weak... These things can really get you down. Besides, I did break down, of course. When you were still out. By the time you woke up I had had already two days to come to terms with it, while to you it was still too fresh”

“So I wasn’t there for you when you needed me” Blaine said regretfully, and Sam didn’t lose any time to start playing with his curls in a comforting gesture.

“Sweetie, it was hardly your choice” Sam replied with a fond smile. “Besides, you know how I am, I don’t give much thought about anything. You’re so much more sensitive than I am, it’s natural we react different to similar situations, isn’t it?”

“Don’t try to make me believe you’re not a sensitive person, Sam, I know you too well. And still... shouldn’t you talk to me about your feelings? You haven’t done it so far, and I want to know how you feel about the whole thing”

“I just don’t feel the need to stir up what’s already dealt with. I’ve told you I’m okay hundreds of times” Sam tried to convince Blaine to let it go, but Blaine was more stubborn than that.

“Yes, I know you’ve told me, I’m just not sure if I believe you yet” Blaine answered honestly.

“Well, you should, instead of spending your energies worrying about me. I’m perfectly fine so please, let’s just focus on getting you better and put this whole ordeal behind us, okay?”

“How would you feel if I was hiding something from you?” Blaine asked out of the blue.

“Why do you say that?” Sam asked, startled.

“Just answer me, please”

“I wouldn’t like it, of course” Sam was forced to admit.

“Exactly. I don’t like it either” Blaine answered in a direct way. “I’m your partner, we are supposed to tell each other everything, to share our thoughts and our feelings”

“I’m not hiding anything from you! Is it so wrong that I’m fine about the whole thing?” Sam was starting to get irritated at Blaine’s insistence.

“Can we at least talk about... about how it went?” Blaine practically begged, not knowing what else to do.

“Look, if you need to talk about it I’ll listen to you. But if it’s only for my sake, then forget about it because I don’t need it” Sam told him firmly, and Blaine could see their conversation had reached a dead end. “I’ll get started with lunch” Sam smiled, his voice pure love again, as he kissed Blaine’s cheek and stood up to go to the kitchen.

Blaine sighed and rested his head on the back of the sofa. He didn’t believe a word about how Sam was feeling, and he was dying to help him, but he was at a loss of how to do it. The more he insisted with his questions, the more Sam withdrew into himself. And Blaine feared all that pain, anger and sadness would slowly kill him inside and change that loving, carefree and funny nature of his that Blaine had always loved so much. As the typical noises of cooking and plates reached his ears from the kitchen, a great sadness filled Blaine’s heart, and he didn’t make anything to stop a tear falling down his cheek.


	14. Chapter 14

“Don’t overdo it, you hear me?” Sam advised Blaine for what it seemed the hundredth time as he parked their car in front of an apartment building near Sebastian's home.

Blaine was going somewhere without Sam for the first time since the robbery, to which Sam had agreed only because he really needed to get back to work, and that way Blaine wouldn’t be staying home alone –and without supervision–. He was only going for a visit to the small place Sebastian had rented to start his own law firm –just to see it, Sebastian had promised he wasn’t going to let him work on it–, but Sam knew his boyfriend like the back of his hand and knew it would be very difficult for him to stay put if he wasn’t there to remind him to behave.

“Yes, I’ve heard you, now and the other twenty times you’ve told me” Blaine answered, clearly frustrated.

“Ok, no need to get so touchy” Sam answered calmly, as it seemed there was nothing Blaine could do that would him even slightly annoyed. “I just want you to remember you are not completely okay yet”

“And how could I forget when you remind me every five minutes?” Blaine answered, more than a bit irritated by then.

Things were not getting better with time. In fact, they seemed to be getting even worse. Sam kept his overprotection to the highest level, and the sense of oppression that Blaine was feeling was starting to asphyxiate him, given his independent nature.

And that, added to the fact that he could feel Sam struggling to keep afloat but would still deny it and keep Blaine’s well-intended offers to help away from him, was really getting to him. He had tried talking to Sam a great amount of times, but his attempts had been unsuccessful so far, and he felt at a loss about what to do.

All these things were making Blaine grumpy and irritable, but even when he rebuked at some comment Sam made that grated on his nerves, Sam would never get angry, as if he had an obligation to take any abuse from Blaine so as not to upset him. And that infuriated Blaine even more.

“I don’t do it to annoy you, I promise” Sam answered in a pacifying tone. “I just want to make sure...”

“... that I’m okay, I know” Blaine finished the sentence for him with a sigh of frustration. “Aren’t you getting late for work?”

Sam looked at his watch and almost jumped on his seat in the car at seeing how late indeed was.

“You’re right, I must get going” Sam admitted, but even then it was obvious how much he was fretting about losing sight of his boyfriend for the first time since the shot.

“Are you going to be okay?” Blaine asked, sensing the obvious turmoil in his boyfriend’s head.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?” Sam replied with a chuckle, as if Blaine’s question didn’t make any sense at all.

“Sure, of course” Blaine replied, and Sam pretended to ignore the sarcasm in his voice.

“Be careful, okay?”

“I will or I won’t hear the end of it” Blaine mumbled, even as he bent forwards to give a quick peck to Sam’s lips. “I’ll see you later, love”

“Take care, sweetie” Sam answered to Blaine’s back as the latter got out of the car.

Sam didn’t move the car until well after Blaine had entered the building, and then sighed sadly as he turned it on and started driving towards McKinley to get back to work after so many days. He knew he was deeply frustrating Blaine with his need to take care of him constantly –but he couldn’t help it, he needed to make sure he was going to be alright, after what he had been through. And with his not wanting to talk about the robbery. But he would rather frustrate him than burden him with his troubles. Blaine needed to concentrate on his recovery, and not on Sam’s feelings. If he could only understand that and stop insisting...

**********

“See? I told you I could make it look habitable even if you weren’t here to take care of it” Sebastian joked as he proudly showed the place to his best friend, glad to see him out and about the mend. After all, he had been working on the place for weeks now and it was almost ready to start working, and he couldn’t feel prouder of himself about it.

“I know that, but since I helped you found the place I really really wanted to help you putting everything together from scratch” Blaine lamented, realizing not for the first time how many things he had missed during his convalescence.

“It was not exactly your decision, Killer” Sebastian reminded him in a comforting voice. “Besides I think it’s better this way, because you’re a control freak and I’m sure we would have fought at the tenth time of you telling me how untidy everything looked”

“Well, I can still tell you because everything is pretty untidy anyway, if you ask me” Blaine half joked, looking around himself.

“I knew I should have waited to show you until the official inauguration so it would be full of people and you wouldn’t dare to say anything” Sebastian answered playfully, and was deceived he didn’t receive even the littlest smile at his humor attempt. “You okay, Killer?”

“Yes, I’m great” Blaine lied with an unconvincing smile that didn’t fool the person who probably knew him the most in the world after Sam or Cooper.

“You sure?” Sebastian insisted, suddenly worried about him.

“Not you too, please” Blaine begged, before he could even realize it.

“What do you mean?” Sebastian asked, confused.

“Nothing” Blaine dismissed him with a move of his hand. “You know what? Let’s tidy up a bit, shall we? It’s the least I can do for you”

“Hey, I thought you were just visiting” Sebastian complained playfully, even if there was a lot of truth behind his words because Sam had secretly called him that morning to make him promise he was not going to let Blaine overdo it –and he was kind of scared of what the blond would do to him if he let Blaine get too tired.

“Well, I happen to be a control freak visit, you said so yourself, so I can’t really stop myself. Besides you need some guidance for the decoration of the place too” Blaine teasingly said as he approached to a big vase that in his opinion was standing too close to the table. “This vase would look so much better at the other side of the office, where there is actually some space for it, you know”

“Ok, let me try” Sebastian tried to stop him from moving it himself, but Blaine had already grabbed it.

“I can do it” Blaine said with such a determination in his voice that Sebastian thought it looked important for him to do it, so he didn’t try to stop him anymore –he would deal with Sam later, if he had to.

“Be careful, it’s heavy” Sebastian still warned him, not wanting for Blaine to hurt himself, but it was too late: Blaine’s bad arm lost its strength suddenly and the vase fell to the floor, breaking instantly.

“Fuck!” Blaine yelled frustratingly when his arm fail to respond, and hearing him swear seemed so out of place that getting angry at him for breaking the vase was the last thing in Sebastian’s mind –especially when he saw all the pain in Blaine’s expressive eyes.

“Hey, B, it’s okay” Sebastian told him reassuringly, as he hurried to clean the mess before Blaine had the chance to do it.

“No, it’s not okay, it’s broken” Blaine answered, as angry as Sebastian had hardly ever seen him before –and it hurt to see how that anger was directed only at himself.

“Yes, but it was horrible anyway, it doesn’t matter” Sebastian tried to reassure him.

“Of course it matters, damn it! It’s because of this damned arm, it’s never going to heal” Blaine answered back before he could stop himself, angrily rubbing his arm in an attempt of bringing some life back into it.

Sebastian approached him and took his arm from him to gently rub it himself, both to help the arm and to calm Blaine’s nerves some –and to stop him from hurting himself with the violence he was rubbing the arm with.

“What’s wrong with your arm?” Sebastian questioned him, looking so intently at him that there was no way Blaine could avoid him.

“It’s just... it doesn’t seem to have any strength in it” Blaine answered reluctantly.

“It will heal, you just have to give it a little time” Sebastian told him softly, reassuringly, almost as if he was talking to a wounded animal.

“I know, Seb. I’m sorry” Blaine apologized, having calmed down enough to be aware of his outburst. “It’s just so frustrating...”

“I know” Sebastian replied, sadly.

“I can’t even play the piano…” Blaine lamented with such a soft voice that Sebastian had to strain his ears to hear him, his heart breaking with the desolation of his friend.

“I’m sure it’s just temporary, Blaine” Sebastian tried to reassure him as his hand move to squeeze Blaine’s good shoulder. “The doctor talked about rehabilitation after your surgery, didn’t Sam tell you about it?”

“I haven’t told Sam about the arm” Blaine admitted, his stance looking only sadder as he sat down on one of the chairs in the office, as if suddenly he had lost the strength to stand. “I can’t even talk to Sam about it, because he freaks out with the littlest thing happening to me, as if I’m going to break or something”

“He’s... having a hard time with... what happened” Sebastian tried to justify Sam.

“I know he is” Blaine answered while a stray tear find its way down his cheek without him even noticing. “If he just let me help him...”

“I don’t think you can. You both went through a lot that day, I can’t even imagine...”

“Yes, I know it was worse for him, because he had to see me getting hurt. I understand that, and I want to help him, but he doesn’t even let me try”

“I don’t think you really understand how it was” Sebastian explained, honestly, as he sat down in front of his friend and rested a comforting hand on his wrist. “I myself haven’t been able to erase the image of you lying lifeless and bloody on the floor, and I am not even your life partner, and I didn’t get to see the whole picture. I can’t imagine what it was for him to see you get shot, to hold you in his arms while you were in an unbearable pain... And then feeling he was going to see you die, just like that...”

Blaine remained speechless, trying to imagine how he would have felt if the roles had been reversed. If he had held Sam in his arms while his life hung by a thread... How could Sam live with that? How had he managed to bury all that so deep and still be able to breathe? And what could he do to help him?

“What can I do, Seb?” Blaine asked, kind of desperate, and Sebastian’s heart broke again at the realization of how far his friends still were from being alright.

“I don’t know, B” Sebastian answered, honestly, as he brought his thumb to Blaine’s cheek to tenderly remove the offending tear.

“I can’t keep going on like this...” Blaine confessed in desperation, just before more tears followed the first one.

**********

When Sam arrived home, he sighed in relief when he found Blaine sitting on the sofa. He had stopped at Sebastian’s office to pick him up on his way home after work, only he was not there: Sebastian had told him he was not in a very good mood –which didn’t surprise Sam too much, all things considered– and had decided to go home.

“Hi, love” Sam greeted him, as he entered and stopped at the door to take his jacket off. “I thought we had agreed I’d pick you up from Sebastian’s office” he went on, without a trace of reproach on his voice.

At the lack of response in his boyfriend, Sam turned around to look at him and found him doing nothing –which surprised and worried Sam, because Blaine was always, always, doing something–, with a serious expression on his face –and didn’t his eyes look kind of red? –. But then he noticed something lying at Blaine’s feet that worried him even more: a suitcase.

“B?” Sam asked, tentatively, as Blaine stood up.

“I was... waiting for you” Blaine answered gravely.

“What’s this?” Sam asked, pointing at the suitcase.

“I convinced my brother to go directly to Los Angeles instead of Lima and I’m going with him for a few days” Blaine explained as calmly as he could, even though his heart was breaking at Sam’s astounded expression.

“On your own? Because I can go with you, if you just give me a couple of days I’m sure I can arrange it at work”

“No, I don’t want you to come” Blaine answered in a soft but resolute voice. “I’m going on my own”

“What? Why?” Sam mumbled, confused and… scared.

“I need to think objectively about... about us. And I’m not going to be able to do it if you’re there with me, so...” Blaine grabbed his bag and made to pass by Sam, but the latter gently grabbed his arm and stopped him.

“But wait! Did I miss something? What’s happening that you suddenly feel the need to think about us?” Sam begged for an explanation to something he didn’t understand.

“I can’t be with a person who doesn’t trust me or doesn’t see me as an equal” Blaine’s voice shook as he spoke, and Sam couldn’t decide if he wanted to comfort him or to yell at him.

“What are you talking about?” Sam tried again.

“I’m tired of you making me feel weak and useless”

“B, wait a minute” Sam tried to stay calm, even though he was terrified that he seemed to be losing Blaine without any kind of warning. “I swear I’m not getting it. How am I making you feel like that, and why haven’t you talked to me about it before?”

“What? I’ve been telling you for days! You just won’t listen! You’re so busy overprotecting me and keeping me wrapped up in cotton that you don’t see further than the end of your nose!” Blaine angrily reproached him.

“Is this about the fact that you don’t think I should be okay again?” Sam responded sarcastically, already building the wall around him that had been a barrier between the two of them for days again.

“No, it’s about the fact that I _know_ you’re not okay. Do you really think I don’t know about the nightmares? Or about the anxiety? I want to help you, but you won’t let me! And I can’t stand it anymore!” Blaine explained shakily, and again moved to the door.

“B, wait” Sam begged, stopping him once again through the link of their hands. “Ok, if you really need me to I’m willing to admit I might be feeling the after-effects of... you know, but I don’t think talking about it will make it better it. It’s just... it’s still too fresh, it will get better with time”

“No, it won’t, it will just fester. You don’t want to talk because you want to protect me, you want to be strong for me because I was hurt and you were so scared I wasn’t going to make it. I understand that, I really do. I know how protective you are of me at the best of times, so in a situation like this... But I’m mostly okay now, and I need you to see it” Blaine begged for Sam to understand, and the latter had to look away at the painful intensity in Blaine’s eyes. “I need us to be back to normal. I need my boyfriend back, the one who thought he could count on me, the one who trusted me, and not the one who sees me as a weak creature in need of constant supervision”

“I don’t see you that way. You’re the strongest person I know. Look what you’ve been through and still...” Sam tried, but Blaine didn’t even let him finish.

“What we both have been through!” Blaine was so angry he couldn’t stop himself from yelling. “Can’t you see it? I was not the only one who suffered! How can you be so selfish?”

“Selfish? I‘ve only been trying to help you!” Sam answered, getting angry himself.

“But you won’t let _me_ help _you_!” Blaine retorted. “This relationship works both ways! I need you to be alright too”

“And I’ll be alright! You just have to give me a little time”

“Sam, please. I’m here for you too. I’m not made of glass, I’m not going to break. Let me help you”

“The only thing I need to be okay is for you to be okay. So if you really want to help me, let’s just forget about it. All this tension isn’t good for you. You should have a rest while I...”

“If you change your mind and realize I’m still your partner and not your child, you know where to find me” Blaine told him softly as he disentangled his hand from Sam’s grip and started walking to the front door.

“B, wait. It’s not that I don’t trust you” Sam said, desperate to find the right words to stop his boyfriend from going. “It’s just...”

“Just what?” Blaine encouraged him to continue, feeling like he was starting to see a crack in Sam’s protective wall.

“I don’t have the right to burden you with my troubles on top of everything” Sam confessed with a sigh, knowing there was no way he could keep avoiding it.

“But on top of what, Sam?” Blaine was getting desperate. “You have done nothing but taking care of me”

“I owe you so much” Sam whispered.

“What are you talking about?” Blaine asked, totally confused at Sam’s words.

“You took that bullet for me! It should have been me who got shot” Sam shouted.

Blaine felt his eyes sting with threatening tears, finally understanding everything that had been going on in Sam’s head, but he didn’t let them fall because he needed Sam to continue talking and he needed to be strong for him. Of course he was feeling guilty, how he had not realized until then? He should have known that would be part of the problem.

“Sam, don’t be ridiculous!” Blaine answered in a completely different tone, full of reassurance and understanding now. “Why was that guy going to shoot you? Because you were trying to protect me! And I did the same for you! You don’t owe me anything, it could have been either you or me, it just went that way” Blaine continued, desperately needing for Sam to understand he was not to blame for anything.

“It was my fault” Sam insisted, his voice so soft it was hard to hear.

“Tell me one thing: if I hadn’t moved when the guy shot and it had been you getting the bullet for trying to protect me, would you have blamed me?”

“Of course not!” Sam answered, before he could stop himself.

“Then please, tell me how are you to blame” Blaine begged for Sam to understand.

“I don’t know” Sam admitted, bringing his hands to his face and shaking his head. “But it’s just how I feel”

“What is it that stops you from talking to me? You never had any problem with that before. Is it guiltiness? Or is it that you think I won’t be able to stand it?”

“I know you’ll be able to stand it. I told you you’re the strongest person I know, and I really think so. But you’ve been so bad...”

“But I’m not anymore, Sammy. And I need to know how you feel. You’re not helping me by leaving me out. This is not how it works”

“You’re right” Sam finally caved in and he turned around to sit in the sofa, implicitly asking Blaine to accompany him, and Blaine could almost feel tears of relief when his boyfriend started talking. “I need you to help me, because it won’t get better” Sam confessed, his voice soft and shaky as he started opening to the person he loved the most in the world.

“I’m here for you, Sammy” Blaine assured him, resting his hand over that of his boyfriend.

“I don’t know how much you remember about it” Sam started. “But you were in so much pain that your lips bled when you bit them trying to control it. I held you for hours while you suffered, while you trembled from the pain, and then I was so sure I was going to lose you.... When you fell unconscious I felt as if a part of me was dying. I was terrified your eyes were not going to open ever again” Sam’s voice broke at the last words, still unable to forget the panic he had felt at that moment.

“But I made it, Sam” Blaine answered, softly, as one of his hands gently ran through Sam’s hair in a comforting way. “We both did, and we are here, together”

“I know, but I can’t seem to stop myself from panicking something is going to take you away from me” Sam continued, suddenly unable to stop now that he had started. “I can’t sleep because I’m afraid you won’t be there when I wake up. And if I finally fall sleep from exhaustion, nightmares start, always about losing you… and when I wake up I can’t even breathe from the panic I feel until my hand finds you and I know you’re there and you’re okay”

“Oh, Sammy...” Blaine lamented, as his hand curled around Sam’s neck to bring him closer to him so he could rest his forehead against the blond’s cheek.

“I was so close to losing you” Sam said with a sob and Blaine didn’t lose a second to envelop him with his arms and bring Sam’s head to rest on his shoulder, as he kept planting soft kisses on the top of his head.

Sam clung to Blaine, days and days of pent-up emotions finally taking their toll on him, and he cried like he had never cried before. Blaine held him strongly, gently caressing the back of his head in a comforting gesture, but he didn’t try to stop the tears; it had been long enough, Sam needed to let it all out, and he was going to be there for him. The relief Blaine felt at having been able to break Sam’s wall at last mixed with the sadness of seeing him so broken. That and his own grief about the robbery soon elicited for some tears to appear in his eyes too.

They remained like that for a good while, until Sam’s sobs started diminishing and he finally lifted his face to look at his lover. It was then when he discovered the tears in Blaine’s eyes too, and he immediately felt guilty again.

“See? That’s why I didn’t want to talk” Sam told him regretfully, as he dried Blaine’s tears with his thumb, making Blaine smile appreciatively.

“Don’t be silly. Those are healing tears, Sam. And healing will be so much easier if we do it together” Blaine answered, pushing Sam’s head to his chest to caress it lovingly and resting his own head over it. “We will make it. I swear to you”

Sam could only nod, too moved to say anything else.

**********

Almost two hours later, Sam awoke, confused but feeling strangely peaceful. He immediately realized he was still in Blaine’s arms, on the sofa, his head resting in his boyfriend’s chest, his hair being caressed by that wonderful man’s soft fingers.

He lifted himself slowly from Blaine’s chest to look at him, and on his face he discovered the most tender smile he could imagine.

“Did I fall asleep just like that?” Sam asked, amazed.

“Yes. You must have been more tired than you thought” Blaine answered, his voice full of devotion. “That, and my magic touch, of course” he joked, making Sam chuckle.

“I’m sorry I kept you like this. I know how much you hate doing nothing”

“I was not ‘doing nothing’. I was guarding your sleep, keeping nightmares at bay”

Sam’s heart felt like bursting from love and he impulsively leant over to kiss Blaine’s lips in a swift but grateful kiss.

“Well, you did it very well, then. It was the best sleep I’ve had since... well, for a long time” Sam admitted as he lovingly pinched Blaine’s cheek.

“I’m glad I could help” Blaine told him meaningfully, and Sam nodded.

“I’ll help you unpack in return, then” Sam said, standing up.

“No, wait!” Blaine yelled, trying to stop Sam from picking his suitcase, though he was too late.

“It’s empty!” Sam exclaimed, his voice a mixture of indignation and amusement.

Blaine blushed visibly for a second, loss for words, but as soon as he found his voice again he tried to defend himself.

“Of course it’s empty! Do you think I was really going to leave you alone like that? Of course not, who do you take me for! I just needed you to react”

“You’re a manipulative little bastard, you know that?” Sam told him, menacingly approaching him.

“In a good way or in a bad way?” Blaine tempted his fate, using the puppy eyes that had proven so successful in the past.

“In the best of ways” Sam answered as he surrounded Blaine’s waist strongly with his arms and pulled him impossibly close to him, capturing his lips in the process.

“I did it because I love you so much, and I needed my Sam back. I needed you to be alright again. You understand, do you?” Blaine told him honestly, his eyes never leaving Sam’s for a second.

“Of course I understand, B. I shouldn’t have been so stubborn about this, I’m sorry” he apologized, sincerely. “And I’m sorry I was hurting you even if I only wanted to protect you”

“Will you consider… I don’t know… maybe getting some help?” Blaine tentatively asked, knowing that Sam still had a long way to go even if he had taken the first step.

“You mean a therapist?” Sam answered, only mildly surprised; after all, he had been considering it himself.

“Yeah” Blaine admitted with a nod. “I want you to be alright. I need you to do whatever it takes to heal”

“Ok” Sam easily agreed, willing to do anything the love of his life would ask him. “Whatever it takes. After what I did…”

“Why don’t we leave all that regret behind and just look ahead?” Blaine interrupted him with a smile while putting his arms around his boyfriend’s neck to bring him even closer, not wanting to let him fall in a spiral of guilt again.

Sam smiled tenderly at his boyfriend in return, reinforcing his grip around his waist, and kissed his lips again.

“Just as long as we do it together” he told Blaine, and the latter could only smile in agreement. “Now you care about some dinner?”

“Why don’t you get started on that while I start getting the guest room ready for Cooper? You know he is arriving in just a couple of days and…”

“Wait” Sam stopped him, trying to look angry even if he failed miserably. “I thought your brother would be directly going to Los Angeles…”

“Mmmm… not really” Blaine admitted with a blush at having been caught in another lie even if with the best of intentions. “I didn’t talk to him at all, so he is still coming for a visit as we agreed…”

“You are a manipulative little bastard indeed” Sam laughed before completely surrounding Blaine’s body in a strong embrace and lovingly kissing the side of his head. “And I couldn’t love you more for it”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more chapter (epilogue) to go!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, first of all I'm really sorry it took me so long to update. It's been a difficult time and... well, I haven't been able to write. Thanks for your patience.
> 
> Secondly, I decided to include one more chapter (this one) before the epilogue I mentioned on the last chapter, because I thought Blaine's issues with his arm needed to be dealt with. Oh, and Cooper! XD

The first thing Blaine did when he woke up next morning was smile at noticing that Sam hadn’t moved from his arms all night –Blaine had decided to spoon him last night to make sure Sam wouldn’t wake up in a panic for once–, which probably meant he had slept like a baby. Just what he needed, Blaine thought before resting a loving kiss on Sam’s shoulder and finally separating from him to get up for the day.

He thought about getting some breakfast ready and maybe taking it to Sam while he still was in bed. Wouldn’t that be nice? After all, Sam had had a hard time recently, and Blaine surely felt like spoiling him a little.

So the most spoily thing he could think to make was, quite obviously, pancakes. Sam loved his pancakes almost as much as he loved him, he thought as he chuckled to himself. And some fresh fruit, that would awesome! Except that he needed to go out and buy it. No problem, anything to make Sam smile again.

He finished getting the mix ready and went to get dressed to their shared bedroom. But on his way there, he passed by his beloved piano, sitting there against the wall, having been untouched for weeks, and a sharp pain quietly made it into his heart. What if his arm never got better? What if he never played again? Sure, he had given up his performing career in New York willingly, but that didn’t mean he didn’t live for music anymore. Before that day those monsters had decided to turn their peaceful lives upside down, Blaine had played practically every day: sometimes he would spend the whole afternoon playing until Sam reminded him it was time for supper while fondly shaking his head at him; sometimes it was only a song. But it was his moment of the day, it was as important as the air he breathed. Come on, he still performed every other Sunday in bars and cafes, just to share his music with the world. Music still filled every fiber of his body, and just the chance of never being able to make it again was enough to bring him to tears.

Forgetting all about breakfast, he sat on the stool in front of the piano and sighed as deeply as he was able, as if trying to encourage himself to try once more. It had been days since the last time he tried, maybe he had healed some, right? He directed his hand towards the keyboard and gently caressed some of the keys. Everything felt natural and familiar. Until he decided to press on them: of the three keys he was trying to press to play a chord, only one had enough strength to make a sound. And not even a clear and strong sound, as Blaine’s hand spasmed and got cramped immediately to the point he had to retreat it and hold it close to his chest until it stopped hurting. And his heart continued hurting much longer than that.

He didn’t know how long he had been just sitting there, lost in his thoughts and his sorrow, when Sam finally woke up and went to his encounter.

“Hey” Sam said, almost in a whisper, as he suddenly appeared behind him and bent down to encircle his waist with familiar strong arms and rest tiny butterfly kisses in the skin of his neck.

“Hey, love” Blaine answered in the firmest voice he could muster given his inner turmoil, even managing to smile as he bent his neck over backwards so Sam could efficiently kiss his lips. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah” Sam admitted with a last kiss to Blaine’s lips before he sat down with one leg at each side of the stool, next to his boyfriend. “I only woke up once, but I didn’t even get afraid because you were holding me and I knew you were there, protecting me, so I didn’t have to look for you”

“I’m glad I could be of any help then” Blaine said with a more honest smile as he leant forward to kiss the tip of Sam’s nose before he remembered something. “But no, shit, I was getting some breakfast ready to take it to you in bed and now you ruined it”

“Aw, aren’t you the sweetest thing?” Sam answered with a fond laugh before he gratefully kissed Blaine’s lips again. “We can go back to bed with it, if you want to”

“It’s not even finished yet”

“I’ll finish it while you play” Sam offered, pointing at the piano. “I’m awake now, if that’s what you were waiting for”

“I was not going to play” Blaine answered, trying not to sound as sad as he felt.

“Then what are you doing sitting here?” Sam asked with a chuckle, still unaware of all the grief inside his boyfriend’s mind.

“I… I just got distracted”

“But you can play anyway, right? I haven’t heard you play for ages, I hadn’t realized how much I’ve missed it until I saw you sitting here”

“I’m not in the mood, Sam” Blaine said, trying to defuse a situation he had caused himself without even trying, but of course his boyfriend didn’t know what was happening and kept insisting.

“Come on, play something for me. I would say _Play it, Sam_ but since I’m Sam I guess it would be kind of confusing” Sam joked with a chuckle, but his expression changed dramatically when he realized Blaine hadn’t even feigned to laugh at his poor attempt of humor. “Hey, love, is there something wrong?”

“I haven’t been entirely honest with you either” Blaine confessed with just the thread of a voice, knowing that it had taken a lot of effort for Sam to open up to him the day before and he owed him just the same, even if he knew he was going to cause a lot of worry to him again.

“What do you mean? You okay?” Sam asked in a much more serious tone than before.

“No” Blaine admitted with a broken voice that immediately sent his boyfriend in a panic that he tried to refrain.

“Hey, babe, what is it? Whatever it is, you can tell me. We’ll deal with it together” Sam asked with all the serenity he could muster, any attempts of joking immediately forgotten as he lovingly removed some stray curls from Blaine’s forehead.

“It’s… my arm”

“What’s wrong with your arm?”

“It’s not working as it should” Blaine explained, not really knowing how to put into words everything he had been experiencing since the robbery.

“Is it still hurting?” Sam asked, trying to stay calm at the new information.

“No, no, it doesn’t hurt most of the time but… it doesn’t seem to have any strength in it” Blaine explained while looking at his arm, lying on his lap and feeling as if it didn’t even belong to him.

“But how come I haven’t noticed it? I’ve seen you doing stuff all the time, like…”

“Because I can move it alright. It’s just… it will suddenly lose all its forces”

“Like in…?” Sam asked, desperate to understand what was really happening and how he could help the person he loved the most in the world.

“Like just yesterday when I broke a vase at Sebastian’s while I was trying to move it, and it wasn’t even that heavy. Like not being able to chop some potatoes to make dinner. I can’t even work on the laptop for long without my arm feeling like it was made of rubber. And…” Blaine tried to explain, for once not wanting to leave anything out, but his voice faltered when it came to the most painful part and he looked longingly at the instrument in front of him.

“You can’t play the piano” Sam suddenly realized, his heart breaking for his boyfriend.

“No” Blaine admitted with the smallest voice.

Far from being angry that he was just discovering such news, Sam read the grief in Blaine’s eyes and his devastated stance and hurried to put his arms around his smaller frame to have him rest against his sturdy chest in an attempt of comfort when the first tears appeared in Blaine’s eyes.

“I know I shouldn’t be so upset about it, I don’t even work with the piano anymore but…” Blaine tried to explain, wanting to make himself understood, but of course Sam didn’t need it.

“But music is your life, come on, Blaine, of course you’re going to be upset” Sam answered, validating Blaine’s pain that way and giving him the chance to express it freely, so Blaine ended up sobbing in Sam’s arms.

It didn’t go unnoticed to Sam how they were repeating the exact same scene from the day before, with one of them sobbing their heart out while the other held him, accompanying him in his pain; only that this time it was the other way around and it was Blaine the one in need of so much comfort. And it was then when Sam finally understood fully how screwed up they really were after what had happened to them and how many consequences they were having to face. Or, in other words, how their perfect little lives from only a few weeks ago had been turned upside down so intensely. And how they were probably never going to be the same again.

“I’m so afraid, Sam” Blaine’s shaky voice took him out of his reverie, and never before something had scared him so much than his boyfriend admitting he was afraid. “What if…”

“No” Sam interrupted him, not wanting for his usually level-headed boyfriend to fall into despair, even half-breaking their embrace so he could intently look into Blaine’s eyes. “No _what-ifs_ … Here’s what we are going to do: we are going to visit the doctor that operated on you and we’re going to ask him about that rehabilitation he talked about after your surgery. He’s going to tell us how to proceed and we’ll do whatever it takes until your arm feels exactly as it did before, alright?”

“But what if…?”

“No, I said no _what-ifs_ … We’re going to fix you and we’re not going to accept anything else, alright?” Sam promised with a confident voice, even if his heart was breaking about the possibility of his boyfriend staying scarred for life. But he couldn’t show him any hesitation, he needed to have faith for the both of them or Blaine would never get the courage to try. “Remember what you asked me yesterday?”

“What?”

“You asked me to do whatever it took to heal. Well, I’m asking you the same. We’re going to fight, we’re going to make it and we’re going to win. Together”

“Alright” Blaine answered with a nod, trusting Sam unconditionally even beyond his fears. Because Sam had never failed him before.

“And I’m not going to stop pestering you about it until you can play _Against all odds_ for me again” Sam dared to joke, hoping to lighten a bit the heavy mood of the room.

“Ok” Blaine answered with a chuckle in spite of himself, grateful for the respite in the intensity of his emotions –and for how well Sam knew him that he always had the right words to say to make him feel better.

“Come here, you silly” Sam said as he once again wrapped his boyfriend in his arms and rocked them together while Blaine tried to control his pain and his fear through soft sobbing, knowing Sam would never judge him for it.

They remained like that, still perched on the piano stool, for a few minutes until Blaine finally stopped crying and was able to lift from Sam’s shoulder. As soon as their gazes met, he smiled embarrassedly at the blond, who just reciprocated his smile and rushed to dry Blaine’s tears with his thumbs.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Sam asked, and Blaine was relieved to find no trace of reproach in his voice; he only wanted to know.

“Because I was too scared, and saying it made it all the more real. And you were worried enough as it was, I didn’t want you to freak out even more” Blaine honestly answered, even if he knew it hadn’t been the right decision.

“I should scold you for that, but I can’t say I don’t understand” Sam admitted, remembering how he had behaved since the robbery.

“And… helping you was much more important, I had to focus on that” Blaine added, and there was so much honesty and devotion in his eyes that it was all Sam could do not to break into tears himself.

“I love you so much” Sam said before cupping Blaine’s face in his hands and brought him closer to capture his lips in a slow kiss.

“I love you too” Blaine answered with a small smile before letting his head fall trustingly on Sam’s shoulder.

“But now let’s focus on the both of us, ok?” Sam said, and he was relieved when he felt Blaine’s nod against his skin. “We’re going to win”

**********

Blaine couldn’t keep a smile out of his face as he waited for his brother to appear behind the disembarkation gates at the airport. As promised, as soon as Cooper finished the long shooting that had kept him in New Zeeland for months, he jumped on a plane towards Ohio to visit his beloved little brother, anxious to see him after the fright he and Sam had gotten at being held hostages in that supermarket a few weeks ago. Of course he didn’t know half of what had happened at that robbery, Blaine reminded himself, but that was the only way to keep him in his work place –he would have never stayed there if he had know Blaine had been shot–, so he didn’t regret it.

His smile only got wider as the doors finally opened and Cooper was the first one to appear, impossibly happy and heavily loaded with what seemed like a hundred suitcases, obviously as anxious to see him as the other way around.

“Blainey” was the only thing Cooper could say before he all but threw all the suitcases to the floor and got his arms full of his brother instead, months of separation taking their toll on both brothers.

“Coop, I’ve missed you so much” Blaine said as he squeezed his brother as strongly as he was able.

“Oh, come on, little brother, it can’t have been that bad” Cooper joked, never the one to get lost in sentimentalities, even if he embraced his little brother just as strongly.

“It was” Blaine insisted even after breaking the embrace, when he had the chance to look at his brother properly for the first time. “But look at you, all tanned and relaxed! How was the shooting?”

“It was great!” Cooper explained, his voice full of excitement, and Blaine felt happy again that he hadn’t been an obstacle to that. “Amazing, best experience of my life! But I’ll tell you all about it when we get home, I’m dying to get a shower” he explained in a rush as he started sorting his suitcases down again while looking around. “Sam didn’t come?”

“No, he had to go to work. He couldn’t possibly ask for a day off, after…” Blaine started explaining, but he had to stop himself before he gave too much away, “well, after taking so many days off while I was in the hospital”

“And how are you doing?” Cooper asked, more seriously this time, as he rested his hand on Blaine’s shoulder to keep him put while he checked on him. “How are those ribs?”

“As good as knew” Blaine answered, only half lying because his ribs had stopped bothering him days ago.

“I wish I had been here, Squirt, I’m sorry that…” Cooper tried to apologize, but Blaine didn’t even give him the chance.

“You couldn’t be here and I am alright anyway, so stop worrying about it, please” Blaine begged with a grateful smile that immediately melted his brother’s heart.

“Ok” Cooper let himself be convinced, not wanting to spend more time with regretting when he could use it to enjoy his little brother’s company. “Come on, let’s get going”

“All of this is yours?” Blaine said, pointing at all the suitcases spread out around them.

“Well, I’ve been out for three months and I’m coming directly from New Zealand so yes, I’ve got a lot of luggage. But come on, we’re strong guys, we can deal with it. Pick up a couple of them”

Cooper’s words were a bolt from the blue for his younger brother: how the hell hadn’t he thought about that? How was he supposed to help Cooper with his luggage if his damned arm wasn’t able to hold any weight?

“We should probably find one of those carts” Blaine said as he desperately looked around them, but there were no carts around and Cooper seemed to be in a hurry to leave the airport.

“What’s the sense in wasting our time in finding one when you can carry two suitcases and I can carry the other two? I didn’t think you were so lazy” Cooper joked, but the dramatic change of color on his brother’s face immediately sent him on alert. “What’s wrong?”

“I… I can’t carry two suitcases” Blaine admitted in the softest voice, almost as if he was afraid of his brother’s reaction.

“Squirt, what’s wrong?” Cooper repeated, clearly worried about the sudden change in his brother’s mood.

“It’s just… I hurt my arm and I can’t carry anything with it” Blaine explained, hoping that his brother would leave it there, but of course he wasn’t going to be so lucky.

“You hurt your arm? How?”

“You know… in the robbery” Blaine hesitantly answered.

“In the robbery?” Cooper repeated, totally confused. “I thought it was your ribs that got busted, and that they were alright by now”

“That’s true, but… I also hurt my arm” Blaine confessed, and it didn’t escape his brother’s attention how he was keeping his eyes down, as if he was trying to avoid his gaze –as if he had something to hide.

“How? Blaine, you said it hadn’t been serious, how are you not completely healed yet?” Cooper insisted, as he was not willing to let it go until he got the whole truth about it.

“Well…” Blaine said, desperately needing more time to come up with a convincing answer, but his brother had always known how to deal with him and didn’t give him the chance.

“Did they break your arm?” Cooper pointedly asked.

“No”

“Then why does is it still hurt?”

“I don’t know” Blaine answered, obviously upset, and even if it hurt Cooper to pressure him, he knew he had to keep insisting now that he was breaking his defenses.

“Blaine, stop beating about the bush, it’s obvious you’re hiding something from me”

“I’m not, it’s just…”

“What the hell happened in that supermarket, Blaine?”

“I was shot, ok?” Blaine answered in almost a shout when he felt too cornered to be thinking clearly.

“What?” Cooper asked as his face paled dramatically at the news. He couldn’t have heard well, right?

“I got a bullet in my shoulder in that robbery, Cooper” Blaine explained, his face full of grief as he begged to be understood for his lie. “That’s why I can’t use my arm now, because it hurt the ligaments in my shoulder”

“You were shot?” Cooper repeated, almost as if he didn’t want to believe it. “Was it serious?”

“Not really, it just…” Blaine tried to defuse the situation again, but his expressive eyes gave him away without him being able to avoid it.

“Don’t lie to me again” Cooper answered in a threatening tone. “Were you seriously injured?”

Blaine knew there was no way he could continue lying, even if only to spare his brother from the pain he knew he was going to get, but he couldn’t seem to find his voice so he just nodded as an answer.

“Were you close to being killed?” Cooper insisted in a broken and fearful voice.

And Blaine only nodded again.

Driven by a sudden and excruciating fear of losing his brother, even if he was standing right in front of him, Cooper brought his arms around Blaine again and held him to his chest more strongly than he had ever done. There were tears in his eyes, and it was all he could do to stop himself from breaking down in sobs at the news, at how good it felt to feel his little brother against him, at how he had not been there for him, at how hurt and betrayed he felt. At how close he had come to losing the person he loved the most in the world.

It took him more than a couple of minutes to get a grip on himself, and he was afraid he might be hurting his brother with the intensity of his embrace, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop. It wasn’t until Blaine spoke that anger won amongst all the other emotions swirling in his head and he was able to break the embrace.

“I’m sorry, Cooper, I didn’t…” Blaine tried to apologize, having noticed the rage in his brother in the way he had practically pushed him away from him.

“Don’t talk to me” Cooper said as he moved to start picking up all the suitcases.

“But Coop…” Blaine tried again as he approached him, his heart breaking at seeing his brother so angry at him –something that had never happened before, as Cooper tended to spoil him to no end.

“Don’t touch me” Cooper retorted in a low but furious voice. “Take that suitcase, please, you can carry one, right?”

“Coop…” Blaine insisted, his eyes getting itchy with tears he refused to let fall, because he knew he had no right to make his brother guilty on top of everything.

“I can’t talk right now, ok?” Cooper answered in the coldest voice Blaine had ever heard on him as he started walking without looking back. “Let’s go home now before I change my opinion and I jump in the next flight to Los Angeles”

And Blaine knew he could only obey, even if he felt his brother further away now that he had him right in front of him than he had done when he was at the other end of the world.

**********

Sam entered his apartment with renewed excitement after a long day of work. Cooper was arriving today, and he was happy to see his brother-in-law again: Cooper was always fun to be around and he knew it always made Blaine incredibly happy to have him there. He hadn’t been that happy about having to watch Blaine go to pick his brother up from the airport on his own –Sam really couldn’t miss any more days of work–, but he was making a conscious effort to show his boyfriend that he trusted him and that he didn’t think he needed to be looked after, so he had refrained from making any comment. Fortunately, he could see a lot of suitcases piled up next to the door, so he knew they had made it alright.

He rushed to the living room, where he was hoping to find them, with a wide smile in his face that immediately froze when he noticed the rare tension in the atmosphere, as both brothers sat quietly in front of each other.

“Hey, Cooper, it’s so nice to see you!” Sam said, trying to sound cheerful, but when Cooper didn’t stand up to greet him and he noticed Blaine’s eyes looked red and impossibly sad, he didn’t even try to pretend anymore. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” Cooper sarcastically repeated, looking at Sam so intently that it almost scared him.

“Cooper is very angry at us for not telling him the truth about the robbery” Blaine intervened in the softest voice, almost as if he was scared of sending his brother into a fury again.

“Oh” was all Sam could say, suddenly understanding.

“Oh? That’s all you’ve got to say for yourself?” Cooper angrily asked, and it made Sam feel very uncomfortable as he didn’t think he had ever seen Cooper angry before.

“Well…” Sam tried to defend himself, but suddenly he couldn’t find the words to justify what they had done.

“Leave him out of this, it was my decision not to tell you” Blaine tried to defend him, but Cooper was not ready to forgive any of them yet.

“He could have called me while you were out, before you decided not to, so I’m blaming you both” Cooper retorted.

“Ok, maybe we were wrong, Cooper, and we’re sorry but…” Sam intervened, wanting to support his boyfriend, but Cooper was really angry at them and he didn’t even let him finish.

“No buts. You made me believe it was not that big a deal. You made me believe it had been a minor incident and that Blaine only got a couple of busted ribs”

“Well, it was more than that, ok, but…”

“More than that? It was so much more than that that I came here to find my brother with a paralyzed arm because he got a bullet in his shoulder and his boyfriend in need of therapy because he almost had to watch him die!” Cooper yelled, even standing up to make more of an impression. “Come on, we even had to take a cab because Blaine didn’t trust himself to drive!”

“We didn’t want to scare you” Blaine tried to placate his brother, also standing up but keeping a safe distance from his brother..

“And you were out of reach when it happened” Sam tried to help him, but he immediately realized he had chosen the wrong thing to say when he saw Cooper’s nostrils rise as he got enraged again.

“Don’t give me that, I called you only a few days later when I came back to civilization and found out on the news, and you were still in the hospital when that happened” Cooper replied before turning again to his brother. “Blaine, I called you every day since then. Every day! You had a million chances to tell me”

“I know” Blaine admitted as he lowered his face in shame, and it broke Sam’s heart to see him so upset even if he could perfectly understand Cooper’s anger. If it was him that suddenly knew that Blaine had almost been killed and he had not been informed…

“I’m your brother, you had no right to leave me out of something like that!” Cooper yelled again, and Sam knew he was really angry when even Blaine’s pitiful expression was enough to placate him –as usually Blaine was able to wrap him around his little finger with the smallest effort.

“I just didn’t want you to lose such an opportunity for your career” Blaine honestly answered, as that had been the whole purpose of keeping him in the shadows.

“Fuck my career, Blaine, you were shot! You could have died!” Cooper yelled, his voice breaking at the mere thought of it, but he recovered immediately. “And you’re not even healed yet, if you’ve lost the use of your arm. Were you planning to hide that from me too?”

Neither Blaine or Sam answered this time, but the shame in their faces told Cooper everything he needed to know.

“Ok, that’s it” Cooper said in a calmer voice, even if he sounded just as angry. “One of my cast mates was injured a long time ago and had some trouble recovering, just as you. She spoke wonders about a rehabilitation hospital for that kind of injuries in Los Angeles, and I’m taking you there”

“No, Cooper, we can’t…” Blaine tried to object, half thinking about how expensive it would be, half scared about having to face his fears.

“And I’m going to pay for it” Cooper interrupted him, knowing what his brother was going to say.

“No, Coop” Blaine again protested.

“It was not a suggestion”

“But it’s your money”

“Exactly, and that’s why I can spend it however I want. After what you did you gotta what I tell you, you owe me” Cooper retorted, and it seemed out of place for him to be worrying about him so much while still sounding so angry. “Besides, what’s the point in having money if you can’t spend it in what’s really important?”

“But I can’t just leave everything behind and leave to Los Angeles, you know?” Blaine insisted, too afraid to even think about obeying his brother, especially if it meant separating from Sam.

“Why not? You’re still on sick leave, right? And it’s only a week until the end of the year, so Sam can come too” Cooper added, understanding part of his brother’s reticence. “We can look for a therapist to help him there just the same”

“Still…” Blaine still hesitated.

“And you’ll be staying at mine’s, so it’s not really going to be such a big economic effort, if that’s what’s worrying you” Cooper insisted, but when he wasn’t able to convince his brother he turned to Sam –after all, Sam loved Blaine with all his heart, he would want what was best for him, right? “Sam?”

“What do you think?” Sam asked his boyfriend, thinking it was the best plan but not wanting to make the decision for him, as he had been doing all that time.

Blaine just shrugged his shoulders, unable to express what he was feeling, but Sam didn’t need for him to do it to understand exactly what was going on in his head: how afraid he was to try and fail, how it scared him that the doctors would confirm he would never regain the use of his arm. But he was a fighter in spite of all that, a survivor, and Sam knew Blaine had promised him to do anything to heal and he didn’t intent to break his promise. Neither did Sam and, as Cooper had said, he could get a therapist in Los Angeles as well as in Lima. So yeah, they had to do if they wanted to win. Because they were not having less than that.

“Alright, we’ll go” Sam confidently answered, putting his arm around Blaine’s shoulders in a comforting half-embrace, to let him know that he understood his fear and he was going to be there for him so they could face it together.

“It’s decided then, we’ll be leaving in a week” Cooper added with a satisfied nod. “I’m going to have a shower and a nap now, it was an incredibly long trip and I’m exhausted”

“Coop, wait” Blaine finally spoke when he saw his brother about to leave the room, as he couldn’t stand a minute more of being at odds with him.

“No, leave me” Cooper asked him, not wanting to risk getting in a fury again, thinking tomorrow would be another day and they could deal with it then, but Blaine was much more stubborn than that.

“I’m sorry” Blaine said as he resolutely put himself directly in front of his brother, effectively cutting his way out of the room.

“Blaine…” Cooper tried to warn him, to ask him to leave it for the day, but Blaine’s need to be forgiven was too big for that.

“Forgive me, Coop” Blaine insisted while his eyes got full of tears that he couldn’t stop this time. “I didn’t want to hurt you”

Cooper sighed when he understood he couldn’t keep resisting –it was not only the sight of Blaine’s tears, which had always been enough to defeat him, but the pain he could see in his eyes, the fear, the need to be understood… Cooper understood that Blaine had never wanted to hurt him in any way –it was quite the opposite– and he desperately needed his big brother to make it all better, as he had always done.

Slowly but confidently Cooper put his arms around Blaine’s frame as the latter started quietly sobbing, trying to comfort him as he couldn’t even begin to imagine everything he and Sam had been through since that damned day in which they had faced death so closely.

“I’m so sorry” Blaine repeated, his voice muffled against Cooper’s shoulder, desperate to be absolved of his crime. “I so need my big brother…”

“Blaine, you’re everything I have… If you had died…” Cooper tried to explain, needing to justify his anger, but his own emotions at seeing his brother so broken got in the way and he started sobbing with him.

They remained in each other’s arms for what felt like a long time, even if it was possibly only a few minutes, until Cooper felt Sam’s hand resting on his back in a comforting and understanding way. Cooper lifted his face from his brother’s shoulder for a second to look at the blond’s face and it was then, when he noticed the silent tears in Sam’s cheeks too, that he understood everything the young couple had been through. Without letting go of his brother, he threw one of his arms around Sam and included him in the embrace, wanting him to know he was there for him too. Those boys were the most important thing in his life and he was going to do whatever was necessary to help them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now yeah, up to the epilogue!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, that was hard to finish! Sorry for the delay, the muses abandoned me again! It's not really an epilogue in the end, more like a full chapter, but it's the last one anyway so... enjoy!

“Come on, Blaine, press harder. Haven’t you had any breakfast today?”

Blaine laughed at the constant teasing he was the victim of at the hands of the therapist who had been helping him for weeks and who was now holding a hand in front of him so Blaine would push into it with his fist. Chris had proven to be an excellent help for his problem with his arm since he arrived at the hospital Cooper had paid for him in Los Angeles at the beginning of the summer, and he couldn’t believe how much progress he had made in almost two months, even if he knew there was only so much Chris could do for him.

“I’m trying, you moron” Blaine answered with a strained voice as he reinforced the pressure on Chris’ hand, giving the best of himself as he always did.

“When did we reach the point in our professional relationship when you felt comfortable enough to insult me?” Chris joked as he pushed back on Blaine’s fist, silently encouraging him to try even harder.

“I think it was the first day, when you made fun of me because I wasn’t able to lift that enormous weight” Blaine answered before he finally gave up and stopped pushing for a second, quickly shaking his hand and opening and closing his fist a few times to relax his muscles before immediately starting pushing Chris’ hand again.

“I just felt you were one of those stubborn mules that would work better if provoked” Chris explained, eliciting a heartfelt laugh on Blaine at realizing he was not that far from the truth. “And considering all the progress we’ve made, I guess I was right”

“Don’t be so arrogant, you haven’t healed me yet” Blaine pretended to joke in a causal way, with only a hint of sadness in his voice. Even with all the advances they had made, Blaine’s arm still didn’t feel exactly as it did before the robbery –it didn’t have the same strength, and still spasmed from time to time–, and probably never would, and that was something both he and Chris were very aware of.

“That might be your fault” Chris joked as he took Blaine’s arm and starting massaging it to get rid of the tension accumulated there –and in his mind–. “Have you tried playing the piano yet?”

“Oh, as you know we’re staying with my brother and he doesn’t have one, so…” Blaine tried to excuse himself, but he and Chris had shared too many hours together for the latter to know better.

“Yeah, as if there wasn’t any other possible way to find a piano, right?”

“I… just haven’t had the chance. I’ll do it when we go back home” Blaine again tried to justify himself, even if the truth was he hadn’t still gathered the courage to try and play, too afraid to fail and being forced to accept he would never play again.

“Blaine…” Chris tried to reason with him, but Blaine didn’t let him and tried to change topics.

“Come on, let’s try again, it’s almost time” Blaine insisted as he gently extricated from Chris’ grip and closed his hand into a fist again so Chris could only obey.

“Is your hubby coming over to pick you up today?” Chris asked after a couple of minutes, trying to regain the comfortable atmosphere they had been sharing prior to his question.

“Yes, he will be here any minute now” Blaine answered with a tender smile at thinking about his boyfriend. “I told him he could wait for me at home, but he insisted in coming to pick me up anyway”

“There are no men like that anymore” Chris only half joked, as he had been a direct witness to the love those two shared for weeks now.

“Don’t I know that?” Blaine answered with a chuckle that spoke wonders about how he felt about the love of his life. “Any chance you’re going to discharge me soon, by the way? I’m still on leave, but Sam has to go back to work in less than two weeks” Blaine asked, suddenly sounding slightly worried.

“And you’re going back with him?” Chris asked in surprise.

“Of course, I can’t leave him alone”

“He’s a big boy, you know?”

“I know but… I have to go with him, he needs me” Blaine answered in a soft but confident voice.

“Isn’t he recovered yet?” Chris asked, surprised that Blaine was even considering leaving his treatment –he was going to discharge him anyway, but Blaine didn’t know that– when he had been working so hard to get well until then.

“Yeah, he’s doing so much better, the therapist discharged him last week” Blaine explained, knowing he could talk to Chris about practically anything. “But he still has nightmares sometimes, and he needs me there when he does. Besides, he would worry too much if he couldn’t see with his own eyes how I’m doing, and gosh, we all know he needs a rest. So yeah, I’ve got to go with him no matter what. You understand, right?”

“I do understand, Blaine, of course but…” Chris tried to protest, to convince him that his own problem was equally important, but Blaine didn’t even let him.

“You know what? We lived in different states during the first four years of our relationship while I got my degree, only having weekends to be together, and gosh, that was difficult… but we made it. And now he sometimes visits his family for a few days, so we used to be able to separate” Blaine tried to explain, suddenly being very important to him that Chris understood he wasn’t being irrational or that they were an unhealthy codependent couple. “But since the robbery… We haven’t slept a night apart since then, not even while I was at the hospital because Sam… So yeah, I have to go with him. You said I was doing much better anyway, right?”

“Yeah” Chris admitted, as he had said that as soon as they had started their session. “There is not much else I can do for you, as I told you the other day you are…”

“Always going to have some trouble with my arm, I know” Blaine finished for him with a sigh, even if he had yet not completely accepted he was going to be scarred for life –and the implications that might have. “We are changed, you know? Sam and I, I mean. We’re basically the same, but there are some scars that are never going to disappear completely. And maybe Sam will never be able to sleep alone again, or I might never be that person who was never afraid to try anything again… but we will be together, and that’s all that matters”

“You’re right” Chris was forced to admit in the end, glad when he received a grateful smile from his patient.

“Thank you for listening, Chris”

“Anything to get one of those smiles out of you, man”

“Are you flirting with my boyfriend?” a loud voice suddenly appeared at their side, but Chris was relieved when he lifted his gaze from Blaine’s face and could easily see the teasing in Sam’s smile, who had just arrived at the gym in which they worked.

“Yes” Chris answered in mock arrogance, as the special place in his heart Blaine had earned as a patient from the beginning of his treatment had been a recurrent joke between them since the beginning.

“Even holding hands… I could expect that from him, but from you, Blaine?”

“Shut up” Blaine answered with a chuckle before Sam bent down to tenderly kiss his cheek.

“So how is everything going?” Sam asked, trying to sound casual even if it was easy to see how much he cared about the answer.

“It’s going pretty well” Chris answered as he finally let go of Blaine’s hand and stood up. “In fact, I wanted you to be here to share the good news”

“What news?” Blaine asked in confusion, as Chris hadn’t mentioned anything during their session.

“I’m discharging you. In fact this was our last session” Chris announced, unable to hide his smile at the sudden and identical expressions of delight in both Blaine’s and Sam’s faces. “I can’t wait to get you out of my sight. Especially you, Sam”

“Oh, the feeling is mutual” Sam joked as he squeezed Blaine’s shoulder in celebration.

“Oh, so you were planning to discharge me from the beginning and you let me talk and talk” Blaine kindly reproached him even if he was grateful for his patience.

“I thought you could use it” Chris answered with a chuckle, even if he was not joking by any means.

“You’re amazing, Chris” Blaine said, more seriously this time. “I’m going to miss you, you know”

“Hello! I’m standing right here!” Sam mockingly protested, hoping to lighten the nostalgic mood he could see his boyfriend falling into.

“Hey, he was ready to leave the therapy just to go with you, I wouldn’t be so whiny if I was you” Chris retorted with a laugh, though by the expression in Blaine’s face he could see the later would have preferred to leave that bit of information unsaid.

“What?” Sam asked in confusion, his gaze turning immediately to his boyfriend.

“He’s just being silly, don’t mind him” Blaine immediately dismissed him before turning to the physiotherapist again to hug him closely. “Thanks for everything, Chris. I’m never going to forget it”

“It was my pleasure, Blaine, you know you were my favorite patient” Chris answered, returning the embrace just as strongly.

“Ok, that’s enough, you’re going to have to give him back to me now” Sam joked as he pretended to break the embrace, though he ended embracing the physiotherapist himself in gratitude. “Thank you, dude. You were a great help, in spite of everything”

“Go away now, you two, before you end up crying” Chris joked as he feigned to push them towards the door, more than a little moved himself.

“ _We_ are going to end up crying?” Sam mocked him, but let himself be pushed towards the door.

Blaine was about to follow when Chris stopped him with a hand to his wrist and a serious expression in his face.

“Face your fears, Blaine” Chris advised him. After all, he had come to care very much about the young boy in the two months they had spent together and only wanted the best for him. “You might be surprised about where your courage can get you”

Blaine only looked at him, unable to find his voice at Chris’ intensity, and only when he felt Sam closing his fingers around his free hand, gently pulling him outside, he reacted with a smile and finally nodded as a promise.

**********

“Hey, Coop” Blaine greeted his brother as soon as he and Sam walked hand in hand into Cooper’s house, and just by the tone of his voice it was easy for the older man to see he was happy.

“Hey, boys” he answered, looking quizzically at them. “How was the session today?”

“It was good” Blaine answered enigmatically, but Sam was so excited he was not able to let Blaine tease his brother any longer.

“So good in fact that he’s been discharged!” Sam intervened, and he sounded so happy and proud at his boyfriend’s achievements that Cooper could only smile fondly at them.

“Hey, congrats, little brother” Cooper happily exclaimed as he rushed to wrap his brother in his arms and kiss his cheek. “I knew you could do it”

“I didn’t do anything, Chris should get all the credit” Blaine refused to accept the the appraisal, but reciprocated Cooper’s embrace just as strongly.

“Oh, I didn’t know you lent your arm to Chris every day so he could work on it on his own” Cooper joked, eliciting a heartfelt laugh from the other two boys.

“You idiot” Blaine mockingly insulted, even breaking the embrace to playfully slap his brother’s arm.

“I think this calls for a celebration, doesn’t it?” Sam suggested out of the blue.

“Absolutely!” Cooper, unsurprisingly, immediately agreed. “You are now both recovered and it’s all thanks to me!”

“Well, thank you, you almighty big brother!” Blaine answered with a laugh, even if the truth was that he was extremely grateful to his brother for how he had taken care of them for the last two months.

“Oh well, and since you apparently can do it all, you’re buying, right?” Sam intervened.

“Ok, I brought that on myself” Cooper replied with a feigned sigh. “But ok, yeah, I’m buying. Oh, you know where we should go? This place everyone is talking about: great cocktails and live music, people can even get on stage and perform if they want…”

“That sounds as too much” Blaine immediately rejected, and even if he didn’t mention why, the other two quickly understood why he didn’t go there.

“Come on, it will be fun!” Sam insisted, even pouting a bit for a better effect, but for once Blaine didn’t let himself fall for it.

“But I’m really tired after all the work” Blaine whined, knowing neither his boyfriend nor his lover were usually able to resist it. “Why don’t we just go to the movies instead, what do you think?”

“The movies?” Cooper repeated, almost horrified at the prospect of changing a perfectly nice night at a club for a movie session.

“Come on, it’s been ages, and there are so many good movies running right now! What do you say?”

“I thought we were going to celebrate…”

“Celebrating doesn’t necessarily mean getting drunk”

“Doesn’t it?”

“Sammy?” Blaine turned to Sam with his trademark puppy eyes, looking for his support. And Sam was about to refuse –he wasn’t going to be fooled that easily either– when he saw something else in Blaine’s eyes that forced Sam to let it go because he couldn’t bring himself to pressure Blaine for something he obviously wasn’t ready for.

“I’m never going to say no to a good movie, of course” he finally agreed with a sigh, but he couldn’t help a slight smile at the gratitude and devotion he could see in his boyfriend’s eyes.

“Coop?” Blaine again turned to his brother, feeling empowered now he had Sam’s support.

“Alright, I know when I can’t win” Cooper relented, knowing he didn’t have any other option.

“Thanks, brother, you’re the best” Blaine answered with a grateful kiss to Cooper’s cheek, perfectly knowing he would have never convinced him in other circumstances. “I’ll go get changed, I don’t feel like going out in sportswear!”

Both Cooper and Sam remained standing in their places in silence, looking at Blaine until he disappeared into the room he shared with Sam, both of them lost in their own thoughts until they knew he was out of earshot.

“Aren’t we easy to read?” Cooper finally broke the silence with a frustrated sigh.

“Yeah, he could read us from a hundred miles away” Sam agreed with a sad smile as he went to sit on the sofa while they waited.

“I would have bought him a piano myself if I didn’t know he was going to throw it at my head” Cooper explained as he also sat down, sighing again at his incapacity to help his brother.

“I know…” Sam agreed, sadly nodding at him. “I’ve tried casually taking him to places with pianos or keyboards, like bars or even music shops, but he won’t dare to try… He just pretends he can’t see them”

“It’s not that I don’t understand how scary it is, but… I’m lost about what to do. He’s mostly ok now but he won’t even try” Cooper added, and by the unusual seriousness of his voice Sam understood how really worried about his little brother he was.

“I guess we just need to give him some time” Sam tried to calm him down. After all, if his therapist had taught him something, that was to be more understanding and to accept everybody had their own limitations. “He needs to build his confidence back. It’s been so difficult for him…”

“I know, and he’s worked so hard to get better… that’s why I think he needs a reward, and he won’t get it until he tries and we see if he can still play”

“And what if he can’t?” Sam pointedly asked in a serious tone that showed Cooper how afraid Sam was too even if he was trying to keep strong for Blaine’s sake. “We know he hasn’t regained the use of his arm 100%, the truth is he might not be able to play again. I don’t think he’s ready to face that possibility yet”

“And neither are we” Cooper agreed with a sad smile.

“Shall we get going?” Blaine said as he appeared in smarter clothes trying to sound excited about their plans, wanting to put an end to a conversation he more than suspected was about him.

“Sure” Sam immediately answered as he stood up and put his arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders to bring him closer and kiss his temple, implicitly promising that way to support him no matter what, to which Blaine only smiled in gratitude.

**********

Blaine noticed how Sam looked slightly nervous as they waited for their plane to take off. They were finally going back home after a two-month stay in Los Angeles with Cooper and, even if he was surely going to miss his big brother, he couldn’t wait to be at their home and to regain some sense of normality in their lives. To be able to think they were still the same they had been before and everything was the same as before the damned robbery.

But it wasn’t. Blaine was no fool and he knew they would never be exactly the same. If only by the light but nervous taping of Sam’s fingers in the armrest of his seat it was clear how different things were from before. Because Sam had never been afraid of planes before, but now he hated situations in which he wasn’t in control of them in some way. Like flights.

Blaine rested his hand on Sam’s to gently stop his tapping, and Sam almost jumped in surprise before smiling in embarrassment. And Blaine reciprocated his smile, trying to reassure him that everything was going to be alright.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I’m a bit shaken today” Sam tried to justify himself, but Blaine only took Sam’s hand in both of his.

“You must be tired” he answered, not wanting to make an issue of it if it made Sam embarrassed.

Sam gratefully smiled at him again before his gaze fell on their joined hands, silently glad of how strong Blaine’s grip seemed to be again even in his bad arm after all the therapy and the hard work he had done. Which reminded him…

“Your hand feels so strong again” he tentatively started, pretending he was just trying to engage him in a conversation to be distracted of his sudden fear.

“I know” Blaine answered with a happy expression. “The treatment really did wonders for me”

“Chris was great… he did a wonderful job”

“Yeah, he did”

“And you worked so hard…” Sam praised him before reaching the point he had been aiming for from the beginning. “Though I was wondering… What Chris said, about you wanting to leave the therapy…”

“He was just fooling around” Blaine answered with a chuckle, trying to sound casual, but of course Sam knew him better than that.

“Was he?” he insisted, not wanting for Blaine to elude the conversation. They had reached a critical point in their relationship only a few weeks ago because of their lack of communication, and he was not going to let it happen again.

“Why would I leave the treatment before it was over?” Blaine asked as if it was just a stupid question.

“To go back home with me” Sam answered as it hadn’t been that difficult for him to read his intentions, even if Blaine seemed quite surprised at his discovery.

“No, I…”

“So I wouldn’t have to be alone. That’s it, right?”

“You just… you aren’t ready” Blaine finally admitted, knowing there was no sense in trying to delay it any longer.

“I don’t want you putting my welfare above yours” Sam said, trying not to sound too reproachful because the truth was that he was very grateful.

“Like you do all the time?” Blaine replied with a knowing smile. “Do I need to remind you you haven’t had any holidays because I had to be on treatment?”

“Sweetie, maybe you haven’t noticed, but we’ve been in Los Angeles! So maybe you had to go to the hospital every now and then, just as I had to visit my therapist, but for the rest of the time, it has been an amazing summer!”

“Really?” Blaine asked with a hopeful smile.

“Almost two months of endless days at the beach and then parties with Cooper’s mildly famous friends? I doubt I have ever been so relaxed and entertained” Sam exclaimed in an exaggerated tone that made Blaine laugh in spite of everything. “But don’t try to distract me. I’m so grateful you love me so much as to neglect yourself in my behalf, but…”

“But nothing, Sam” Blaine interrupted him. “The treatment was almost over anyway, and you’re so much important than that”

“I’m not more important than you, and I don’t want to hear that ever again” Sam answered in a serious tone, although he tenderly caressed Blaine’s cheek with the back of his fingers to soften his words.

“I was just trying to do what I thought would be the best for the both of us” Blaine explained, unconsciously moving his face towards Sam’s hand, seeking the comforting contact. “I couldn’t bear the thought of you alone in an empty apartment after…”

“I know. And I can’t say I don’t understand. You’ve had to see me wake up drenched in sweat and terrified after a nightmare more than a few times. It’s only normal that you will worry I’m not ready to be alone”

“And it’s also normal that you’re not ready, you know?”

“I know” Sam answered with a grateful smile towards Blaine’s constant understanding. “If I have to be honest… I don’t know if I ever will”

“Then I will always be at your side” Blaine honestly promised as he curled his arm around Sam’s and let his head rest on the blond’s shoulder in a trusting and comforting way.

Sam’s only answer was a shaky sigh and a kiss to Blaine’s forehead before letting his own head rest on top of his boyfriend’s, while he silently thanked the heavens for the hundredth time that he hadn’t lost him that fateful day.

**********

The return to their daily routine did wonders for them, as it gave them the sense of normalcy they so desperately needed. Sam went back to work, and Blaine did the same only a few days later, completely –or almost– recovered. Things were looking brighter for them than in the last days they had spent there before leaving to Los Angeles, and they had totally recovered the trust and the easiness between them that had always made them so happy.

Except for the piano. They had been at home for two weeks and Blaine hadn’t even removed the sheet he had thrown over it before the summer so it wouldn’t get too dusty. He pretended not to even think about it, but Sam had caught him looking longingly at it a few times, and his heart had broken each one of them.

Like that Saturday morning in which they were doing their monthly deep-cleaning in their apartment –Sam didn’t care much about it, but he knew it was important to Blaine so he didn’t mind lending a hand, especially now that Blaine’s arm had its limitations–. Sam was sweeping the floors while Blaine removed the dust from the furniture, and when Sam saw his boyfriend skip the piano as if it wasn’t even there, he couldn’t keep silent any longer.

“You can touch it, you know” he softly said, breaking the comfortable silence present until then, and he didn’t miss the way Blaine’s muscles tensed at his remark.

“What?” Blaine asked without stopping in his task, pretending not to have heard him correctly while trying to gain some time to think of a plausible excuse to keep himself away from the instrument.

“It’s not going to bite you” Sam continued in a joking tone, even if both of them were very aware of the seriousness behind his words.

“I know that” Blaine answered, his back still to his boyfriend.

“Maybe you could… give it a try. See how it feels” Sam tentatively suggested, hoping he would not be sending Blaine even more on the defensive than he already was.

“Yeah, I have to try one of these days. When I have the time” Blaine dismissively answered in a casual tone, even if Sam knew him like the back of his hand and he could see the tension in his body, the plea to just let it go.

“When you have the time?” Sam repeated in a disbelieving tone.

“Yeah, you know I’ve been quite busy trying to get up to date at work after so much time, and my arm exercises and everything… But as soon as I…” Blaine tried to excuse himself, but Sam was getting frustrated with their game and interrupted him, trying to be gentle but making it clear that he was not buying any of his excuses anymore.

“Why don’t you try now? I can finish cleaning, it’s no problem”

“No, I live here too, it’s something we both have to do”

“Blaine, stop” Sam begged as he walked all the way to his boyfriend and gently made him turn to look at him by picking his hand in his. “It’s okay, I understand your fear but…”

“If you understand why are you insisting?” Blaine reproached him as he disentangled his hand from Sam’s grip and resumed the cleaning of the bookshelf behind him, leaving no room for doubt that he didn’t want to continue with that conversation. But of course Sam was not going to surrender without a fight.

“Because it breaks my heart to see you struggling like that” Sam protested, not trying to touch Blaine again but not moving an inch from him either. “I know it’s hard and scary but… I know you want to play. I know how much you miss it, I’ve seen your eyes every time you look at the piano”

“It’s not that easy” Blaine whispered, almost to himself.

“I never said it was” Sam replied anyway, wanting to let Blaine know he understood.

Blaine let out a long sigh before he stopped in his task and turned around to face his boyfriend. He knew Sam only wanted to help him. He knew how much he loved him and how he wanted for him to happy. But he didn’t understand how scary it was, especially right then when he was resisting the urge to shake his hand to rid it of the spasms and the dull ache in it after all the cleaning. What if he tried… and failed?

“I might not be able to play again” Blaine said in such a soft tone that Sam had to strain his ear to hear him.

“We know that chance exists, but we won’t know until you try” Sam insisted, even if his heart was breaking at the grief and the fear in Blaine’s eyes.

“The moment I try there is no turning back. There is no hope if it doesn’t work”

“Even then, you have to try, Blaine”

“I know, Sam, but…” Blaine again tried to make him understand his feelings, but Sam was not even trying to listen anymore.

“We need to know if…”

“Sam…”

“…you are still able to…”

“Will you stop?” Blaine practically yelled, too overwhelmed by Sam’s insistence.

They fell in a stunned silence after that, both of them too surprised as they hardly ever raised their voices to each other. But far from being offended, Sam understood it had been him carrying Blaine to his limit, so he rushed to try and fix things.

“Blaine, I…” he began, but he stopped himself because he really didn’t know what to say to make it better.

“Look… you’re not helping me, okay?”

“I’m sorry, I was only trying to…”

“I know what you were trying to do. But you don’t understand”

“Maybe not, but…”

“You don’t get to decide when it’s time for me to do anything” Blaine said in annoyance when Sam continued insisting.

“Of course not, but I thought…” Sam tried to be understanding, afraid he was only managing to send Blaine further away from him instead of helping him, but he was obviously not succeeding.

“You’ve had your own issues and I’ve supported you unconditionally in every step of the way, you know” Blaine suddenly reproached him.

“Yeah, I know” Sam admitted, surprised.

“I’ve never questioned any of your actions. Or your fears. I’ve always respected your own pace in your recovery”

“Blaine, I know”

“Then why can’t you do the same? Why are you pressuring me to do something I’m not ready for?” Blaine said, hating himself for getting so emotional that he could hardly stop the tears threatening to fall, but he couldn’t help it.

“You’re right” Sam quickly agreed, feeling guilty and devastated at the tears threatening to spill from Blaine’s eyes, knowing he had put them there with his insistence. And besides, he was right: Blaine had been nothing but wonderful and understanding with his emotional consequences after the robbery, why couldn’t he do the same for him? “You’re right, I’m sorry. I had no right”

“I just… I can’t…” Blaine tried to explain, but his voice broke before he could even finish the sentence, to which Sam jumped and rushed to envelop Blaine in the warmest embrace he could offer.

“I’m sorry, babe, I won’t pressure you again” Sam promised to Blaine’s ear while gently holding him and caressing his back in comforting patterns. “It’s just… I only want what’s best for you”

“I know” Blaine admitted, also feeling guilty at his own anger when he knew Sam was only doing what he thought was the best for him.

“And you’ve worked so hard to get better…” Sam lamented, breaking the embrace so he could cup Blaine’s cheeks in his hands. “I know there were a thousand other reasons too, but you went through all that mainly to be able to play the piano again and…”

“What?” Blaine encouraged his boyfriend to continue when he faltered.

“All your efforts will have been in vain if you don’t try” Sam continued, looking intently into Blaine’s sad eyes. “But you’re right, it’s not for me to decide when you’re ready to do it. Please, forgive me”

“There is nothing to forgive, Sam” Blaine kindly answered, covering one of Sam’s hands, still on his face, with his.

“I… I just want to help you” Sam tried to justify himself, even though he knew he didn’t need it anymore.

“Then… hold me” Blaine pleaded, his voice not more than a thread again.

“Of course” Sam answered as he obeyed with Blaine’s request and wrapped him in his arms in a protective way.

*************

After that day, the issue of the piano never came up again, though it was always there and they both were very aware of it. Sam refrained from making any comment about it again, though, because he knew he owed it to Blaine to give him time so come to terms with his fear, just as Blaine had done to him. And he was really afraid that pushing him too much would make him go on the defensive and just make it even harder for him.

But Sam knew how much he missed music. Maybe it was not that obvious, and probably no one else, not even their closest friends, had noticed the subtle change in Blaine’s essence. It was not only that he wouldn’t even approach the piano anymore: he never switched on the radio full volume while he swept the floor, and he never used the broom as a dancing partner anymore; he never sang; he never even hummed any melody to himself whenever he was concentrated in something. Where he had been all noise and excitement before, Blaine was now silence and calm. And it broke Sam’s heart one time after the other. Because he obviously loved Blaine no matter what, but he missed everything that had always made Blaine so unique until then. He missed his soul.

Blaine was walking home from his school one afternoon in silence, as he never bothered to use his headphones anymore. Listening to music only reminded him how much of a coward he was, so he now preferred to avoid it. He had even left for home straight after his last class, instead of remaining in the school for a while preparing his classes for the next day, because some workmates had suggested for them to have a drink in the new bar close to school and he had immediately said he had plans that day and he was kind of in a hurry. Which was not true at all, as his only plan that day was to go home and watch the pity in Sam’s eyes every time he looked at him.

He was interrupted of his thoughts by the ringing of his phone, and he looked at the screen to discover it was his friend Sebastian calling. It didn’t surprise him, as he had to admit he had been neglecting him more than a bit lately. It was not that he didn’t want to see him or anything like that, he just… hadn’t been in the mood for hanging out. Especially after Sam had tried having Sebastian talk to him about the piano issue, thinking that maybe if someone else who was not so involved in the problem could make him understand how much he needed to try… And of course Sebastian had tried to talk to him, and Blaine had been forced to give him the same answer he had given Sam, that he was not ready and nobody was going to tell him when to do it. He had seen in Sebastian’s eyes that his answer had stung a little, because if there was something they both had been proud of until that moment about their friendship was how they could talk pretty much about anything, and suddenly Blaine was forbidding him to talk about something. But Sebastian had immediately recovered from the surprise, smiled warmly at him, and apologized for trying to tell him what to do. Poor guy, he had probably felt forced to let it go in fear that Blaine would push him away from his side if he felt he was being cornered. And that’s exactly how he felt with everyone telling him what to do, even if he perfectly knew they only had his best interest at heart.

“Hi, Seb” he said to answer the call, knowing that Sebastian was the best of friends and he didn’t deserve for Blaine to pay his frustrations with him.

“Hey, Killer, what’s up?” Sebastian said in his usual warm and friendly tone.

“You tell me, you called” Blaine joked, hoping to maintain a light mood in spite of their last conversation.

“You always read me like an open book” Sebastian said with a laugh. “Listen, one of my clients gave me two tickets for a concert of this band… I don’t remember their name, they’re just starting, but apparently they’re pretty good and I thought you of all people would appreciate a bit of good music”

“When is it?” Blaine asked, feigning to be interested so as not to offend his friend.

“It’s tomorrow evening”

“Oh, I can’t tomorrow, Seb, I have to…”

“Perfect, because it’s on Friday” Sebastian interrupted him before he could even look for an excuse. Damned bastard, he had really read his intentions, right?

“Seb, when is it really?”

“Why, so you can look for an excuse?” Sebastian asked in the same playful voice than before, even if Blaine could perfectly hear the seriousness behind his words. “If you don’t want to go with me, you can just say so, you know?”

“No, Seb, it’s not that” Blaine honestly contradicted him with a sigh that only helped to worry Sebastian even further.

“Are we okay, Blaine?” he asked, with no trace of joking in his voice this time.

“What? Of course, why wouldn’t we?” Blaine asked in surprise.

“Maybe you’re still angry at me for our conversation the other day, I don’t know”

“No, of course not, Seb, I could never be angry at you”

“Are you sure? Because we haven’t seen each other much lately and you sound so… far away sometimes… I miss you” Sebastian added, unusually serious and emotional.

“I know… and I’m sorry” Blaine immediately apologized, feeling incredibly guilty that he had made his friend feel like that. “But it doesn’t have anything to do with you, I promise. It’s me”

“You still not feeling good?” Sebastian tentatively asked in a general way, not wanting to get into any details that could send Blaine on the defensive again.

“I’m… working on it. But I swear it has nothing to do with you”

“So you still wanna be my friend, Blainey?” Sebastian joked, playing with his voice until he sounded like a little kid.

“Yes, I still wanna be your friend, Seb” Blaine answered with a chuckle at his friend’s antics.

“Then? What do you say about the concert on Friday?”

“I’m…” Blaine hesitated again, but he didn’t want to blatantly refuse so Sebastian wouldn’t feel bad again.

“Or maybe we can do something else” Sebastian suddenly suggested, understanding that it was not that Blaine didn’t want to see him, but it was the plan which he was having trouble to accept –he knew about his issues with music those days–. After all, Sebastian knew him almost as good as Sam did, right? “Dinner in a nice place, so we can get up to date with everything we’ve done in the last weeks?”

“And what about your tickets?” Blaine asked, feeling bad that Sebastian had to miss the concert for him.

“Screw them, they’re probably going to be very bad if I can’t even remember their name”

“Ok. Let’s have dinner then” Blaine agreed with a more honest laugh.

“Just you and me. Puck has a new video game, you can park Sam here until we’re back”

“Ok, just you and me” Blaine repeated, laughing again and feeling very grateful for the wonderful friend that he had as he finally reached his apartment and opened the door to it. “I’ve missed you too, Seb, by the way”

“Of course, who wouldn’t?” Sebastian joked, but the sudden silence that met his words immediately alerted him that something was not right. “Blaine, you ok?”

Blaine’s breath caught up in his throat at the image that met his eyes when he opened the apartment: everything was exactly the same as it was in the morning when he left except that all the textile articles (curtains, couch-case…) had been removed –Sam had said he was going to throw them in the washing-machine, after all–. Including the sheet that had been covering the piano since before the summer, and that left the instrument in full view for the first time in months.

“Yeah, sorry” Blaine finally reacted when he realized Sebastian was still calling his name, a little worried by then. “Text me tomorrow with the time, ok?”

“Sure, but… you sure you’re okay?” Sebastian insisted, having noticed the change in Blaine’s mood.

“Yeah, everything is fine” Blaine tried to reassure his friend. “See you on Friday, Seb”

“Ok, Killer. Call me if you need anything, ok?”

“Ok”

Blaine forgot about his phone in an instant after hanging up and slowly walked to the piano resting against the opposite wall. It looked stunning and beautiful without its cover, and Blaine couldn’t stop himself from running the tip of his fingers along it in a slow caress, trying to remember how it sounded like at his hands… when he was still complete.

He let himself fall on the stool in front of it, and he couldn’t help but smile when a familiar heart-shaped sticker in one of the corners caught his attention. A sticker Sam had put there when he had bought that piano for him, after saving for months to get him the best gift he could manage at the beginning of their relationship, back at the time when Blaine had been studying in Indianapolis. Because Blaine obviously had taken his piano there, where he would spend most of the week, and Sam had argued that he needed to have a piano in his own apartment for when Blaine came to spend the weekends, because listening to him play was one of his favorite things in the world, and because it made him feel closer to him whenever he was not around. And Blaine had been so incredibly moved by the gesture that he had decided to keep that piano when he finally finished his degree and moved with Sam –even if his other one, which he sold, was probably better.

How had Blaine forgotten about that? How he had not realized that Sam missed his music almost as much as he did? Why had he been so selfish as to believe his inability to play only affected him? He had to try, and he had to do it for Sam. For both of them.

His hands shaking with apprehension, Blaine lifted the fallboard and let out a shaky breath as he looked at the keys, which he almost perceived as his enemies right now. And when he understood there was no sense in delaying the moment any longer, he brought his hand to the keyboard and gently pressed a chord.

He was surprised when he was able to lower the three keys he was pressing on, unlike the last time he had tried, and even if he felt as if he needed to make a bigger effort to do it, he couldn’t feel any spasm or pain in his hand. And that realization encouraged him to try more than any words had been able to do until then.

Before he was even aware of what he was doing, his fingers started playing the first notes to _Your song_ , the first song Blaine had ever serenaded Sam with after they got together and which they considered their song for that reason. So he was not really surprised that was the first thing that came to his head when he finally tried to play. And even if it sounded clumsy and he missed a key every now and then, Blaine didn’t let himself get discouraged and continued, even starting to sing to accompany the chords.

**********

Sam rushed home as much as he could, cursing his own luck that he had been kept at school precisely that day to fix a fight between two of his players. Precisely that day when he had decided to wash all the clothing of their apartment before leaving that morning, including the sheet covering the piano. Precisely that day that Blaine for once had texted him to say he was going straight home and if he wanted anything in particular for dinner.

He was practically running, hoping he could get home before Blaine did and cover the piano again, or it would look as if it was a hint or a not-so-subtle way to push him to try again. And gosh, he didn’t want to fight with him again or to make him cry again or to make him feel as a coward again. He had been sure he would get home before he did and cover it again once the sheet was dry, as Blaine usually stayed at school for a while to prepare his classes for the next day. Otherwise he would have never dared to wash that sheet, no matter how dirty it was after months of lying over the piano, untouched.

When he opened the door to their apartment, though, Sam could hardly believe what he heard: not only he could hear Blaine’s beautiful voice singing again, but it was accompanied by the notes coming out from his fingers on the piano. And maybe it didn’t flow as easily and effortlessly as it had done in the past, but to Sam it sounded like celestial music after so long.

He was close to running to his boyfriend to embrace him or congratulate him or encourage him to continue, but decided against it in the last moment. If there was something he had learnt in his therapy sessions was that he couldn’t keep treating Blaine as if he was a child and he needed to let him make his own decisions. And after all he had started before Sam arrived, and he hadn’t even realized he was there yet, so it was something he had needed to do on his own.

Blaine continued playing and singing, completely unaware of Sam’s presence behind him, and he even closed his eyes to feel the music more intensely. His hands were shaking so much with emotion that he was making more mistakes than necessary, but he didn’t care: he was making music again and that’s all that mattered. He would have the time to practice more from then on, now that he knew he could do it.

When he finished the song he wasn’t even able to move for a few seconds, trying as he was to control his emotions. The fear, the pain, the anxiety… suddenly seemed so far away, as if the weeks since they had come back from Los Angeles hadn’t existed at all. And it wasn’t until he felt gentle thumbs drying the tears on his cheeks that he realized he was crying.

“Sam” Blaine tried to speak, but the knot he felt in his throat kept him from saying anything else.

“You did it” Sam said, and there was so much pride and happiness in his eyes that it only brought more tears to Blaine’s eyes.

“Sam…” he tried again, but this time a sob interrupted before he could say anything else.

“You did it, Blaine” Sam repeated, his own eyes shiny with tears as he pulled of Blaine’s hands to make him stand.

Sam put his arms around him and tenderly held Blaine’s head against his shoulder as the latter broke fully into sobs and clung desperately to him. It was heartbreaking to hear, but for once Sam didn’t worry because he knew those were healing tears, tears of relief after so much suffering. But that didn’t mean they didn’t affect him, and Sam couldn’t help but to cry with him as he rocked both their bodies together.

“I’m so proud of you” Sam said to Blaine’s ear and to his surprise that only made Blaine cry harder.

“I’m so sorry, Sam” Blaine said between sobs. “I should have seen it was hurting you too. I shouldn’t have been so stubborn, forgive me, please”

“There is nothing to forgive, love” Sam said, breaking the embrace to look intently into his boyfriend’s eyes, desperately needing to be understood. “You had to do it in your own terms, ok? And you did it”

Blaine only nodded even if the tears didn’t stop yet, so Sam enveloped him with his arms again and held it more closely to his chest than he had ever done before. Because he finally had his Blaine back. And he didn’t have any intention of letting go of him any time soon.

“We won, babe” Sam whispered in Blaine’s ear as his hand tenderly caressed the curls in the back of Blaine’s head, to which Blaine could only nod in agreement. “We won”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... that's it! I hoped you enjoyed it!
> 
> My next story, if inspiration lets me, is going to be a very dramatic, heartwrenching thing... It's going to have all kinds of warnings in the beginning in case it triggers something for someone (nothing too bad, but just in case) so you can all decide if you want to read it or not. I know I should really go back to TWD, but I can't bring myself to do it and I really want to write this one... Oh, and after that I was thinking about a silly little thing in the A Long Race universe... You know... with the kids and uncle Cooper ;) So let me know what you think about all this!


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